The Awakening
by RassenReaper
Summary: After being beaten by Kaguya, Naruto wakes up in utter darkness, only to find that he isn't dead just yet. A certain god has taken an interest in the boy and is willing to make a proposition. How will Naruto's story change? Time travel. OP Naruto. NaruxHinaxAnko {DISCONTINUED}
1. Awake

**This is a Naruto time travel fix. This is my first attempt at a fan fiction, but I'm passionate about Naruto enough to think that I'll do okay. Rated M for language, violence, as well as other reasons :3. I do not own Naruto nor shall I ever, which is unfortunate.**

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Naruto awoke to a black void he seemed to be little too familiar with. He wondered if this was really it, if he was really dead this time. He remembered how he was with Sasuke, fighting Kaguya Ootsutsuki, how she had beaten them so easily. All she had to do was suck out all of their chakra until their bodies eventually gave out. He remembered back to the story black Zetsu had told him, how he orchestrated and manipulated the shinobi world to bring about the resurrection of his mother. He thought back to how he had failed everyone. Coming out of his thoughts for a moment he realized that where he was wasn't very afterlife-ish.

Groggily he sat up to look around, only to find more of the void he was sitting in.

"Quite interesting." He heard a dark and cold voice that instantly sent a shiver up his spine. He turned around to find the source of the voice, shocked to see a white main of hair, red horns, and a pale purple face, that was very the image of death.

"I believe this to be the second time I'd be seeing you," the reaper said neutrally. Naruto nodded slowly, squinting his eyes a little, trying to remember the first time. As if knowing what he was thinking, the reaper answered the unasked question.

"The first was when your parents died, sealing that bijuu inside of you."

Naruto nodded again, this time in understanding.

"So I'm really dead this time huh. Kinda sucks considering that means the end of the shinobi world as we know it." The reaper stared at him what almost seemed like amusement. Naruto couldn't really tell with the indefinite cold look the shinigami had.

"Speaking of bijuu what happened to Kurama? Does he die with me?"

"Usually I would have, but something is still tying me down here," said a low and menacing voice that Naruto knew all too well. "Kurama you're here too!?"

"Apparently so Ningen."

Naruto looked around for his befriended tenet only to see her materialize behind him, in her classic lied down form with her head on her massive paws. Naruto turned back around to ask the shinigami another question only to be beaten to it by the death god suddenly answering him again. He was starting to dislike that.

"I have a proposition for you human. As I said before you are a rather interesting individual. I have watched you for quite a while now, taking an interest shortly after your bijuu was sealed into you."

"A proposition? I thought the shinigami was supposed to take lives no questions asked, send them to the afterlife, that type of thing, not make some deal with a random dead person." Naruto said this with confusion in his voice, not expecting the God of death to make a deal with him of all people.

"I believe I said proposition, not deal. You have nothing that interests me to offer so only you would be on the receiving end." Naruto just looked upon the shinigami with a bit more confusion evident on his face.

"You have gone about your life rather uniquely to say the least, even more so evident that there has been no fear in you since our confrontation started. Greater men have cowered before me." He said this in his neutrally cold tone that he always spoke with, something Naruto had quickly adapted to. Naruto couldn't help but be impatient.

"Okay so you have a proposition or whatever for me, what is it?"

"I'm getting to it," it said a bit more coldly if it was even possible.

"Naruto shut up and listen to him," came the annoyed Fox. Kurama had been deeply interested in this ever since the conversation started. For the death god himself to speak to a mortal was unheard of, let alone make an offer of something.

"Yes anyway. Since you have been a source of amusement to me, I'm willing to let you continue to amuse me."

"So what, are you going to resurrect me so I can beat Kaguya or something?"

"Naruto," this time it was an annoyed growl. Naruto just quickly glanced at Kurama with a huff of apology, making the fox role her eyes, Naruto setting his attention on the shinigami once again.

"No. As you could see, you couldn't beat her so that would be pointless. No I have something much better in mind. I'm offering to send you back in the past to possibly 'fix' what happened and prevent this turn of events. Without shinobi, the world would get considerably more dull, making my job that much less enjoyable." Naruto slightly quirked an eyebrow at the mention of the death god 'enjoying' what he does. He then realized what the reaper had just said, eyes going wide in shock.

"You can do that!?"

"I am a god, the most powerful no less, so I don't see why it would be so impossible." He stated this very matter-of-factly, without a hint of arrogance, which didn't go unnoticed by his audience.

Growing suspicious, the fox voiced her own question. "Why? Why choose Naruto amongst the thousands that die every day?"

"The shinigami looked over at the fox for the first time and responded. "It's like I said, Naruto has been amusing, leading a life that no other human had quite done before, and new things are extraordinarily rare now-a-days." The fox seemed to be content with the answer and let the exchange to be continued without further interruption. The shinigami once again looked back at Naruto who still couldn't quite believe, nor wrap his head around, what he had just been told.

"I should say that you don't have to, as it is just an offer. I'll take you to the afterlife if you so wish it."

After staring down at the ground for a few moments in contemplation, Naruto looked back up with a still slightly confused look. "So you'd take me back, just like that, no questions asked, and no other strings attached?"

"Correct."

"If I were to say yes, how would that even work? I mean sending me back in time would be a little noticeable by like, everyone, dattebayo."

"True enough, but I'd only be sending your mind and memory back, as well as your bijuu's. I'd also change a few things." Kurama's eyes widened ever so slightly at the mention of her name also going back with Naruto, then she focused on the tail end of what the death god had just said.

Thinking along the same lines, Naruto voiced it before she could. "Change things? Like what?"

The shinigami looked at him for a moment with his cold stare before answering. "I'd open your mind." At that Naruto was throughly confused, not getting it at all. Kurama on the other hand, had an idea where the shinigami was going with this.

"Would you be changing who Naruto is, like his personality?" Kurama interrupted once again. Like the first time the death god looked at the fox with cold eyes.

"No, he would retain everything, only be a bit more open to certain things, such as knowledge." At that Kurama lifted her head up out of disbelief before she quickly went back down to rest on her paws once again, staring at Naruto and suddenly wondering what a smart Naruto would be like. Naruto still wasn't quite getting it however, soon to be rectified.

"Also know that I'd be sending you to your six year old self, a day before you enter the academy. This is mainly because anytime before that would be problematic with your still developing brain as well your body not being able to handle the stress of an older you invading a younger one." Naruto didn't quite get what figure was saying, but the time he mentioned seemed okay with him. At least he'd be able to show up that insufferable Uchiha that the girls always flocked to.

"Well, do you accept my offer?" Naruto once again looked down in thought, not something he had been very used to over the years and had been doing it a little more than he was comfortable with. Then suddenly it dawned on him. He could save, everyone. Everyone that had died up until that point, within reason that is. Neji. Ero-sennin. Asuma. Haku. As well as all the shinobi that this pointless war had claimed. Suddenly Naruto looked up with determination in his eyes, a sight that the shinigami knew all to well.

"I accept your offer." The death god nodded with a pleased look, if he could have one. Kurama narrowed her eyes a bit though. As if Naruto knew, he spun around with a look of apology towards his tenet.

"Oh Kurama I'm sorry I didn't ask if you wanted to accept or not!" Kurama merely sighed and looked at her favorite human.

"It's fine. I'd have been mad if you didn't accept it. Being eternal, dying isn't something I really want happening any time soon." Naruto looked relieved at that.

"Now that you have accepted, I do have a few guidelines for you to follow." Naruto turned back to the shinigami with a bit of confusion.

"I thought you said there wouldn't be any strings attached?"

"Nor shall there be. These are merely guidelines to make your life easier and so you don't stray to far from the original timeline too soon. You can do that later." Naruto nodded, understanding somewhat.

"First of all, don't tell anyone that you're from the future. Only tell those that you intimately trust, but even wait to tell those people for at least of few years. You can never be too careful. Something that goes with this is to not mention me. I don't need power hungry fools chasing after a power they can't have. That would be rather bothersome." The humans can already use him in the form of the reaper death seal and that blasted mask. He didn't need any other means to have to entertain mortals.

Naruto just nodded once again waiting for the death god to finish.

"Next, don't show off your power unless it's absolutely necessary. You will be keeping some of it after all. Speaking of, don't try senjutsu until your chakra pathways have matured. If you try and fail then sending you back to the past would have been pointless. You being a stone toad isn't as amusing at you might think." The shinigami somehow managed to keep his cold tone while making that statement.

Naruto once again nodded, this time understanding fully what the shinigami was saying. With a grimace, he remembered back to when he was training for senjutsu and what the failed attempts had looked like while, also rubbing the phantom pain on his head from being whacked one too many times by that stupid toad elder.

"I will also ingrain a jutsu into your mind that will allow you to summon a book that will tell you what you did that day in the past, in case you forget, which you probably will. You don't have to follow it forever, probably just until the academy is done and over with." Naruto nodded and thought to how useful that would be, and how he needed to make sure no one caught him reading it.

"And don't worry, no one will be able to read it's contents but you." Naruto was relieved at that, but once again slightly irritated to have his mind read again.

"And that would be all. Are you ready to go?" Naruto abruptly came out of his thoughts to look up at the death god with a bit of surprise. "Like, right now?"

"Yes now."

Naruto looked down for a moment in thought, then back at Kurama, who only slightly nodded, then the blonde brought his head back up to face the shinigami.

With a new fire in his eyes he responded, "Alright, let's go."

Moments later, the shinigami's eyes erupted with light, blinding Naruto and his Tennant. And with that, everything then went dark.

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 **So there's the first chapter. A little short but it's just an intro chapter. The other chapters will be longer. Probably. Hoped you enjoyed it and post a review! You can also pm me if you have any ideas about where you think the story should go. I'm always open to suggestions. Thanks for reading!**

 **EDIT: So I've been getting some negative feedback that this story doesn't follow canon in every respect and that it's also a recycled fanfic story. I do agree that the initial premise is similar to a lot of Naruto time travel pics out there, as I have gotten inspiration to write this from reading those very pics. I decided to write this one with a similar premise with my own spin on it. Several aspects of my fic have things that I haven't really seen in any of the fics I've read that start out like this (going back in time to change the future type thing). Also note that this is my first time ever writing a story, and I've just recently got into reading fanfics about 6 months ago. With this in mind, I hope you could give my fix a chance as you get past the setup chapters like this one. I might rewrite this chapter (and possibly future chapters) in the future though depending on how the story progresses. Any constructive criticism is welcomed as well as ideas for where the story should go. I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this fix as much as I enjoy writing it :D**

 **Also a small note, I'm going to write this assuming readers have knowledge of the original story, so I'll be skipping over some parts and providing brief descriptions of things covered deeply in the manga/anime.**

 **Status: rewritten**


	2. Same experiences

**Thank you all for the reviews for the first chapter. I wasn't expecting it to be received so quickly after the first day! And well I might add. I wanted to clear a few things up as well. The Kyuubi's is going to be female. It'll make for some interesting situation in the future. Also, involving romance, Naruto won't romance any others besides those listed. Naruto's eyes were opened to love, not to being a pervert or womanizer; he will be flirting a bit more though. Also to Shinigami Miroku, I know the shingami isn't all powerful like I said, but for the sake of this story I made it that way, mainly for convenience ex machina. Lastly, Naruto will have Kyuubi's both Yin and Yang chakras. I never liked that he only had half in the canon.**

 **With that squared away, I present the second chapter. Sadly, I do not own Naruto.**

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Naruto awoke suddenly, eyes shooting open. He saw a ceiling. His ceiling. He lied there a moment to get his bearings, then sat up to look at his surroundings. He was in his apartment. He sat there, feeling rather strange. He thought about what had happened, eyes going wide as he did so. He looked down at himself only to be even more shocked. He was little. Very little. He couldn't believe the death god had actually sent him back. After thinking back on the encounter he noticed something strange, it didn't bother him to think deeply about his situation now.

Looking at his hands he couldn't help but think what had happened to him, why his mind was suddenly so clear with understanding. As if suddenly remembering he looked down at his seal.

"Kurama are you there!?"

"Yeah, but barely. Since you were sent back to your younger self, the seal is once again in place, making it difficult to communicate." Naruto just nodded to himself it actually making sense to him.

"And before you go thinking that you can just go ripping the seal off again, don't. Your body can't handle-"

"Yeah yeah I know. I'll probably wait until my chakra network has matured, much like how I am to wait for senjutsu." After saying that, Naruto cocked his head a little in confusion. Did he always talk like that? His tenet also caught this with a bit of surprise. Naruto just widened his eyes.

"So that's what the shinigami meant when he said he'd open my mind.." trailing off Naruto just went through his thoughts a mile a minute, everything becoming so clear to him. While thinking through things, a thought suddenly came to his head.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Suddenly a book popped into existence, landing on Naruto's lap. Strange that it didn't require blood to activate. All he had to do was call out the jutsu. Naruto peered at the leather bound book curiously. He flipped through it, only to be surprised that the entire thing was blank. That was until he turned to the first page.

 _Play pranks all day, including one against the clothing merchant, the Hokage, and the village by painting all over the Hokage monument._

Naruto suddenly remembered how much of a prankster he was in his younger days, and then suddenly remembering why he had singled out that clothing merchant. He had wanted to buy some more clothes because he only had two outfits at the time. The shop owner saw him walk into the shop and preceded to kick him out with more force than was necessary, and with a bit of name calling that may or may not have included 'demon child' in the mix.

After thinking back on this Naruto realized he had a perfect memory of the day now, or at least what he had done in the past, now present. It was like the leather bound book transferred all the memories that he no longer had into his mind so he could replay the day just like he had before. Naruto now understood the importance of this as well; he couldn't alter the timeline, at least not yet. He remembered the death god had said to wait until he was out of the academy. Changing anything too soon would only make people suspicious, and make preventable things not so preventable if he didn't know what was going to happen. That brought a few thoughts to mind. He'd have to go through all of the village's scorn once again, the loneliness of having no friends, and all the name calling and ignoring that he received on a daily basis. He didn't mind it much anymore, him conquering his hatred a while back, in his own timeline at least. But he also remembered that he wouldn't be able to stop the Uchiha massacre, stop Itachi from leaving Sasuke in a pit of bottomless hatred. Naruto disliked that he had to make Sasuke go through all of that, Naruto knowing exactly what happened with Itachi being a hero to the leaf. He suddenly realized it was going to be a little difficult to keep all of his knowledge a secret now that he had it. At least now he wouldn't be so lonely with his tenant, now friend, keeping him company. Now he could focus on making a more positive relationship with her, and not just learning how to fight with her. He could already tell that he was going to have some fun with that.

Suddenly bringing him out of his thoughts, he heard a rumbling sound emanating from his stomach.

"Well, time for some ramen." If he could see his tenant she'd be rolling her eyes at the statement.

Naruto swung his legs over to stand up, suddenly feeling how light he was. He pushed that aside for now, hunger taking priority in his thoughts.

After he ate his favorite meal and got ready for the day, his thoughts then drifted back to how he felt so light.

"Hey Kurama, why do you suppose I feel so light, besides the fact that I'm a lot smaller, it seems like it's something different."

"Since the shinigami sent your memories back, you probably retained your muscle memory on how to move. That in conjunction with your lighter body is probably the reason for your strange feeling."

Naruto nodded in understanding, somewhat surprising the fox in her now jailer's mental capacity.

"I suppose that makes sense. It'll make training a lot easier, that's for sure. Oh, I want to try something." Naruto brought his hands up into a cross formation.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Suddenly a puff of white smoke appeared in front of Naruto, revealing an identical version of him. He was wearing beige cargo pants that went down to the top of his ankles, and a black and orange hoodie that was cut off at the sleeves with a white shirt underneath.

Feeling somewhat drained, Naruto looked at his clone with a smirk.

"Now that I know I can do that, I'll have you go do everything that the past me would of done, while I focus on more important things."

"Naruto don't you think that your chakra reserves are a little low to be making shadow clones do whatever you want? As you remember, it was a kinjutsu that had the ability to kill the user. Performing it at this age would kill just about everyone who would try it," Kurama informed.

"Hey that's why I have you right? The seal is loosened enough for some of your chakra to help make them isn't it?"

"Unfortunately no. The seal won't really start weakening at all until around your second year at the academy. Even then it wouldn't be enough to help in any real way." Naruto frowned at that. He needed to train to get his strength back and pulling pranks all day just wasted the time he had to do just that.

"Fine. I'll do the day to day stuff for now and work on my chakra reserves in my down time. I'll get them expanded as soon as possible so I can have my clone here focus on the stuff I don't need to." Popping the clone out of existence, Naruto headed for the door to pull his pranks on the people of Konoha. For some reason, pranks just didn't have the same enjoyment that they used to anymore.

After thoroughly angering the shop owner and annoying the Hokage, as well as the rest of the civilians of Konoha, Naruto laid back in his bed contemplating the day. While he was setting up his pranks, he noticed that his chakra control was better than it had ever been, probably because his reserves were so low. The surface clinging technique was remarkably easy and made the vandalizement of the Hokage monument much easier. He also noticed that he was much faster than he was before at his age, this being because of his chakra enhanced muscles that he now knew how to do. Increased strength came along with this, he didn't need it much today, however. After laying there for a good twenty minutes, he got up to work on his chakra reserves. To do this, he summoned as many shadow clones as he could, and had them perform the surface clinging technique to hang from the ceiling. Right now his max was four before feeling like he was going to pass out. This frustrated Naruto, but he relented as he understood this was going to take time. After his chakra training was done, he took a shower and then headed off to bed. Before going to sleep, though he wanted to have a conversation with his tenant first. He sat on his bed in meditation and closed his eyes.

After opening his eyes, Naruto saw that he was in his mindscape. It was remarkably less dingy than the first time he visited all those years ago.

"Hey there Ningen. Was there something you needed?"

"Not really, I just wanted to talk to you." Narrowing her eyes a bit, she stared at the boy.

"About what exactly?"

"Hey now do I really need a reason to come and talk to my favorite fox?" Kurama closed her eyes with a snort.

"I suppose not. Just a little strange is all." Naruto smirked at that.

"I was wondering how you were adjusting being in a seal again. After being out of it, only to be put back in, it can't be too comfortable of an adjustment." The fox opened her eyes slightly to look at the smirking boy.

"It's not too bad I suppose. I know that you'll release it as soon as you can so I'll just have to be patient, not something that's too difficult when you're immortal."

The smirking boy stared back at her with a bit of mirth in his eyes.

"Right you are. We can't have someone as pretty as you behind iron bars now can we." She narrowed her eyes dangerously at that.

"What are you doing." It was more of a demand than a question. Naruto just had a mock look of betrayal on his face.

"What are you talking about? I'm just trying to have a conversation with my only friend. Is that really so bad?" Kurama just huffed at that while closing her eyes.

"Listen, I'm tired so leave me in peace for now." Naruto just nodded and let himself be pulled out of his mindscape. He opened his eyes and laid back onto his bed.

"Geez, she's awful touchy when it comes to compliments of any kind. I guess I'll have to work on that." Naruto smirked again and rolled over on his side to drift off to sleep.

XXX

The first day at the academy was pretty uneventful. All Naruto did was go and get through the introductions and sit through the speech about the will of fire from the Hokage. He still enjoyed that speech, it meaning more to him now than any of the other kids listening. As he went about the day, he also found it hard to react like he typically would if he really was an eight year old Naruto. He was going to have to get real good at acting and fast. There was one kid in his class that asked the sensei a really stupid question, and Naruto almost blew his cover on his second day back by answering him. It was something along the lines of 'Would the Uchiha have the will of fire if they were the police force'. Sasuke looked about ready to kill the kid. The kid was quickly answered by the sensei as to cool down any anger that had been sent his way, Naruto included. Naruto didn't know how he was going to deal with all the little kiddies and their stupidity for six years. He also wasn't looking forward to having to fail the genin test twice, again. But he would have to if he wanted to be on the same team he was on in his time. When he would begin making his shadow clones do everything he didn't want to, he would have to be sure to dumb it down a bit so it would act like he was at that age. The discrimination from sensei wasn't going to be fun to deal with either. But he'd get through it, though. He'd done it before, and this time he didn't have to deal with the bottled up hatred that he had harbored before. He'd come a long way in understanding the people of Konoha and why they acted the way they did. Plus he'd always have his red friend for 'emotional support', if she could even offer any. He had to chuckle to himself at that.

Coming out of his thoughts, he refocused on his chakra training. He didn't dare do it outside his house in case of prying eyes. He also had to be careful of the ANBU that guarded his front door 24/7. He tried to make as little noise as possible whenever he was training, and was successful the majority of the time. He was a little frustrated however that the ANBU would let the civilians do whatever they wanted to his home, now knowing the ANBU would be there. Naruto just guessed it was to be sure that he wasn't killed. Everything else would be permitted. More of that village scorn he'd have to put up with. He was thankful that Kakashi and Itachi always tried to look out for him when they could, trying to make their presence unknown. They succeeded before, but now Naruto could notice them with some effort.

Today was surprising, that being because Naruto could now produce six shadow clones. Not a lot of progress, but it had only been a day. He'd take improvement where he could get it.

"How long are you going to make me do this Kurama?" Naruto said to himself a bit exhausted. "If I can make six, then why can't I have one go to the academy every day?"

"That is because I'm cautious Naruto. What if a situation came up where you needed that sixth one because of a small change you made? It's the butterfly effect. There's no telling what may change. So wait until I can get my chakra flowing through your coils so I can expand them. However going at the rate you are, I'd say you'd be safe doing so in about six to eight months. So be patient, and keep doing what you're doing for awhile."

Great. He would have to deal with stupid kids and pointless pranks for that much longer. Needless to say, he wasn't happy about it, but he would listen to his tenant's advice. She had been around for a lot longer than he has so he wouldn't take her advice for granted.

After he was thoroughly exhausted from chakra depletion, he laid in his bed for about an hour. After resting a bit he left to go get his favorite ramen from Ichiraku. With his allowance being as small as it was from the orphanage's care system that ran through the civilian council, he could only get his delicious treat about twice a week. The only reason he got as much as he did was because Hiruzen made sure that he would have enough to live off of. The civilians knowing this, charged him way more than everyone else, somewhat compensating for the funding he was getting.

He was grateful that he had begged the Hokage to give him an apartment when he was five to get out of the hell-hole of an orphanage, though. The complex he was in now was a bit run down, as to be expected, but it was a vast improvement over where he would be. It also helped that he didn't have to deal with neighbors, them seeing fit to all move away once they found out the 'demon child' had moved in. At least he wouldn't have to deal with noise complaints.

After enjoying his meal at Ichiraku's and spending some time with his surrogate sister Ayame, he headed home to get ready for the next day at the academy, not that he wasn't prepared. It helps when you have a little book that tells you everything that you need to do.

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 **Well, there's the second chapter. It was more of a chapter clarifying a lot of things as well as describing a few changes such as the orphanage situation there at the end. As of now I have rewritten this chapter to fix some minor plot holes and mistakes that I made when I wrote it the first time. I'll be going through and fixing all my chapters for that reason. Thanks to those who brought my errors to my attention.**

 **Anywho, post a review and tell me what you think, or if you have an idea where this story should go. I am a man of the people after all xD**

 **Status: rewritten**


	3. Academy days, part 1

**Alright so here's chapter three. As promised, it's a bit longer than the first two. Hopefully you all like the changes I'm doing, as small as some are. Anyway with that, enjoy!**

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Over the course of a few weeks after the academy started, Naruto began looking for a training ground to train in after his classes and then also during when he managed the shadow clones. It became apparent he needed one when one morning of doing exercises, namely running laps around the village walls, he was stopped by an ANBU and sent to the Hokage. It was annoying to have to deal with but he understood it none-the-less. So now he was looking for a training ground. It had to be secluded enough so that no one would bother him, but not so secluded that it would be guarded or patrolled by ANBU. He thought of the forest of death, but he didn't think he'd be ready for that for at least a few years. So he stuck with finding another one until then. After searching for one for about three weeks, he found one that met his stipulations. He wouldn't have to be wasting time like this if his apartment hadn't been so damn small. He staked out the training ground that apparently been numbered 27 if the sign was any indication, for two days to see if anybody would show up to it. While he was waiting for anyone to make an appearance, he practiced his surface clinging technique to hopefully up his reserves a bit. If he was going to take time to sit around and wait for something that may not happen, he might as well make use of that time. After being satisfied that no one was going to show up and discover him, he began to train there every day after classes, sneaking off with stealth skills way too advanced for an academy student.

After training one day he decided to go to the library. Learning things had actually been interesting to him for a change. With this knew perception, he went to the library to learn everything he could that wasn't restricted to him. At first, the head librarian had tried to kick him out, but it was nothing a little persuasion from the Hokage couldn't handle. The Sandaime had been surprised that Naruto wanted access to the library. He hadn't thought the boy would be interested in such things like reading if his previous experience with the boy was anything to go on. He relented and had a talk with the librarians to make sure that Naruto would be allowed access. Hiruzen couldn't stop the glares they gave him, so he could only hope that in the future that Naruto wouldn't hold it against them for their irrational fear and distain of him. That went for pretty much the entire village as well.

After a few days at the library, Naruto learned quite a lot concerning how he should go about his training from then on. The one thing he disliked the most was that he had to change his eating habits. No more ramen in a cup for every meal if he wanted to get strong as fast as he wanted to. He had to have a properly balanced diet with high calorie intake. He learned this through a few nutrition books he had found the second day he went. He didn't know how he was going to manage it though with his low allowance from the orphanage, so he read up on some scrolls and books about basic survival, such as hunting and fishing. He knew how to do it for the most part already, but knowing more about a subject and filling in any missing gaps always helped. Luckily there was a river next to training ground 27 that he could use to get fish. He'd have to bring the rest of his lunch with him, though. This was on the days he skipped his classes however, as they typically provided lunch at the academy, even if his portion was a little less than everyone else's.

One day he had come across a fuinjustsu scroll and it had greatly intrigued him. He knew his father had been excellent with seals as was his mother, being an Uzumaki and all. He wondered why he never thought to learn about it before. Of all the subjects he had learned about so far, fuinjustsu had been by far the most interesting. After that Naruto preceded to read and learn from every possible scroll and book about fuinjutsu that he could. Surprisingly, most of the scrolls about the area of study had been in the unrestricted section. This was probably because with such a low number of people that had any knowledge on seals, the Hokage or other village officials thought it better to be available to anyone with an interest. After all, being a seal master didn't necessarily require you to be a ninja.

After about a month after the academy started, Naruto had gotten into a rhythm for how his weeks would go. He'd wake up early to do some morning exercises then head to the academy. He only went on Mondays and the days he had tests. After attending the academy, he'd go to his training ground to train his chakra reserves as well as a few low class jutsu that he could handle. When he didn't go to the academy, he would go to the library to study more about fuinjutsu. After about a month of studying the art, he began making his own seals. It had just come so naturally to him since his mind had been opened. At first he'd just do some basic storage seals, but then he moved on to some of the more advanced ones. He still couldn't come up with his own personal seals based on his own ideas yet, he'd still be a few years away until he reached that point. But he did learn about resistance seals and the possible ways they could help him train. He was confused why more shinobi didn't use them, or at least ask seal masters such as Jiraiya to give them out to a few. Speaking of, Naruto had been thinking about the old perv since Naruto had started to train himself in seals. Naruto couldn't wait until the Chuunin exams when he would get to see the Toad sage.

After about four months at the academy, Naruto had applied a ten stage resistance seal on himself. He had to get a clone to do it because it had to be painted on the entirety of his back. When he would activate it, it showed think black lines that branched from the main one located on his spinal column, down the length of all of his limbs. It showed a circle of writing where the seal was based on his lower back, about six inches in diameter. He figured he'd start to really work on his physical training now then wait until later to do it. At the moment he could only go up to two, but then it was nearly impossible for him to move, so he stuck to one until he had gotten used to it. He'd only deactivate it when he slept. Luckily it stayed invisible when it was activated. He didn't need other people thinking he'd gotten strange tattoos and have an even worse opinion about him than people already do.

After about five months since he started the academy, Naruto was able to produce 50 shadow clones, a stark improvement from when he first started. Kurama then gave the blonde permission. So after that he had the clone go to the academy every day, much to the sensei's chagrin. As he had planned, he dumbed the clone down a bit after transferring the memories from the memory journal to it so it knew what to do. Now he was able to completely focus on his training. He had to get more powerful than he ever was before if he wanted to take down the Akasuki quicker this time. He also realized that he'd have to get as fast as his father if he wanted to land a hit on Obito. That meant learning his signature jutsu, the Hiraishin. But that would have to wait until later. Right now he had more important things to focus on. The rest of the academy year went by like this, only at one point Naruto had began sending a clone to the academy as well as the library, with a Henge of course as to not alert suspicion, while he focused on training in his training ground. That summer had gone much the same way. Due to the academy being a ninja training facility, the students only got a month off each break compared to the civilian three. But it didn't matter much to Naruto at this point. In the past he had complained about it, but with his current situation he didn't mind. It was a clone that went after all.

After about midway through his first academy year, Naruto began to instruct his clones to subtly start interacting with everyone in a slightly different way, namely, trying to solidify friendships better than he had done before, especially focusing on Hinata and Sasuke. He didn't have much luck with Sasuke.

Towards the end of his first year, Naruto noticed that his chakra had increased more than it should have. Excitedly he sat down to meditate in his training ground one day to be pulled into his mindscape.

"Hey Ningen," Kurama said when she saw the boy.

"Hey Kurama, it's been awhile. How've you held up in this dingy place?" Naruto couldn't help but smile, though, him not being able to help thinking about real reason he was here.

"It's not so bad, definitely better than when you were actually this age," the fox said with a slightly pleased tone. Napping in water was a nuisance to be sure, murky water at that."

"Speaking of which, I was wondering if there was a way that I could improve your living conditions a bit," Naruto said, remembering that he wanted to do this the last time he was here. Kurama just raised her eyebrows at this, surprised that Naruto would do that for her. She then hurriedly tried to mask her surprise.

"Well it's your mindscape Ningen, so I'd imagine you had control over how it looked."

This surprised Naruto a little, not having thought of something so simple. "Okay what would you prefer?"

Kurama looked down in thought for a moment and responded. "A green meadow would be nice."

"Alright, I'll try to see if I can do that." Naruto closed his eyes to picture said meadow. He raised his hands as if adding to the shaping of the inner world of his head. After about what seemed like five minutes, he opened his eyes to see lush green, a blue sky, and a bright sun that made it look like it was around three in the afternoon. He was happy with his handiwork and then turned to the fox.

"Well, how'd I do?" Naruto said with a beaming smile.

"It'll do." The fox couldn't help but smirk. In actuality though, Kurama had been very impressed that Naruto had been able to do it, and even more so that he cared enough to do it in the first place. The iron bars were still there however, spanning as far as she could see, which was to be expected, as well as the spiral seal in the middle, or at least what looked like the middle. The fox really appreciated what the boy had done, but she was much too proud to ever admit that to Naruto.

"I'm glad you like it. If you want anything else in here just let me know," Naruto said still beaming. He was glad that he could make his tenant happy, or at least what passed for happy for an entity supposedly composed of hatred and malice.

"Noted. Was there something else you wanted?"

"Oh yeah!" Naruto exclaimed remembering why he'd come in the first place. "I noticed that my chakra reserves are bit bigger than what they should be. Is the seal finally loosening?"

"I was wondering if you'd notice. I've been working on pushing as much chakra as I could through the seal and into your system to weaken the seal sooner, and I will continue to do so. At this rate, it will be as weakened as it was when you were 15 by the time you're 12. It is also at that time that you can undo the seal, as well as use senjutsu," Kurama informed.

Naruto looked happy with that. He hadn't known Kurama had been working so hard all this time. It was a good change compared to how she used to be, full of resentment and hatred.

"Cool. I'd have graduated the academy by then, and that's around the time I come back from Jiraiya's training trip. By then I'll have the strength I lost back, and then some. On top of that, we can finally work together again!" Naruto said with a smile.

'Strange one indeed,' Kurama thought. Reluctantly she admitted to herself that it would be nice to work with him again, but he'd never know that.

"If that's all you can leave now. I want to feel what it's like to nap in the sun again," Kurama said closing her eyes. She then stretched out her massive paws, arching her back. Despite her size, Naruto couldn't help but think how adorable it was.

Naruto nodded at the fox's wishes with a small smile and let himself be pulled out of his mind.

XXX

The next few years had continued like this, with him training every single day for hours, both body and mind. When it came to the academy graduation exam, he actually showed up in person as to make sure his clones didn't fuck something up and blow what he had been planning. Of course he was tested on the clone jutsu. His sensei would sabotage him every opportunity they could, namely Mizuki. But Naruto didn't mind. At least it made it easy to fail. He had planned on making a deformed clone on purpose, but he realized that he wouldn't have control over it if he could make one or not. He had stood there in from of the examiner, did the proper hand sign, and produced a sickly looking clone that looked utterly pathetic. Needless to say, Naruto failed. He went through the next year with the same results.

Throughout the two years he failed, Naruto continued his rigorous training, not letting up for a single day. At this point, he was at the third level of his resistance seal, and also had come a long way in his fuinjutsu studies. He could now use seals to hide his training from prying eyes just in case someone happened to pass by the unused and forgotten training ground. It was a good thing too, because on the sixth day he had the seals up, a purple haired kunoichi had passed by the grounds, surprising Naruto. She couldn't see him thanks to the seals, but it looked like she knew something was amiss. Her hair had been tied up into a spiky ponytail that suited her quite well. She had rather revealing clothing too. She wore a fishnet bodysuit that stopped mid thigh that left very little to the imagination, with a pale orange skirt that stopped at her lower hip, with a tan trench coat over it all that was left open, and gray shinguards over black shinobi sandals. Completing her outfit was her leaf headband on her forehead, slightly covered by her purple bangs. Naruto of course, recognized her to be Anko Mitarashi. She was a sadistic woman if his chuunin exams could say anything about it. However, now he saw her in a new light. She had the curves that complimented her outfit, the outfit trying its best to accentuate them, and Naruto sure as hell took notice of it. He had never realized just how beautiful Anko really was. After having a strange feeling in his chest and a bit of drooling, she left, obviously too busy to stay to find out what was up.

Before the woman left, she shook her head to clear her thoughts, after she had taken out a piece of paper to write something down. Naruto hoped it wouldn't be a problem in the future, but knowing how skilled Anko was as one of the elite Jonin, she'd probably be back after she completed her mission or whatever is was she had to do. She didn't seem like the kind of person to rat him out for training secretly, so he wasn't all that worried.

Naruto was glad for the seals he had made this time, but next time she came, if there was a next time, he'd deactivate them to save her the trouble of having to figure them out. If she really wanted to, she'd get past them eventually, either by her own machinations or by calling in a seal master. He'd just explain things to her and hope that she would understand. He also realized that he'd have to control himself in the future in the presence of other pretty girls. He didn't want to be like his now soon to be sensei Ero-Sennin. He'd learn to control himself while silently and unnoticeably admiring from a distance. He didn't have time to be chasing women, he had more important things to do.

XXX

While at the academy for his second year, Naruto had started to try to make a further effort to be friends with Sasuke. He needed to try to break him out of his arrogance and soon to be hatred for his brother Itachi. He didn't want him to leave the village this time around. It had caused too many headaches, one of them being Sakura. Speaking of which, he noticed that he really didn't like the girl. He didn't understand what he saw in her back when he was a kid. She was a fangirl with no talent for being a ninja except for chakra control and didn't take being a ninja seriously. Later on he would have to have a conversation with her once she was on his team about the way she wasn't going about training, which was close to none at all. He cared for her and didn't want her to fall behind like she had before, and with a different timeline, he didn't want anything bad happening to her because of a lack of training. That was one thing he had his clones change as far as how they acted as well. He really couldn't stand the idea of himself or another form of himself swooning over a girl like that. She'd be okay to be friends with once she broke out of that phase, though. But until she was on his team, he would pass on interacting with her. Just like before, it was pretty easy to make friends out of Shikamaru and Choji. After school he would have his clone hang out with them either playing ninja or looking up at the clouds, Shikamaru's favorite hobby. They would occasionally go get barbecue, Choji's favorite hobby. It was too bad clones couldn't transfer what they ate to you. That was damn good barbecue going to waste. But the experiences he had with his 'new' friends had been worth it.

One day after the academy had released it's students, Naruto approached Sasuke who was on his way home. He had come personally so he could leave a good impression on the raven haired boy.

"Hey Sasuke wait up!" Naruto yelled behind him, even though he could easily catch up to him if he wanted to.

"What do you want dobe, can't you see I'm busy," Sasuke replied coldly. After hearing about Naruto and watching how he'd score the lowest in everything, Sasuke didn't much like the blonde. He had no time for weaklings. This was further proved by Naruto's performance in the academy since he had been in class. All he had done was skip classes, be annoying, and prank Iruka- and Mizuki-sensei. It wasted his time and he didn't appreciate it. He wanted to get strong like his brother Itachi. He wanted to get home too to ask his brother to teach him the shuriken jutsu. He had said he would but he seemed to never have the time to do it, always poking him in the forehead saying, "Sorry Sasuke, maybe next time." Itachi would teach him eventually.

"I was wondering if you wanted to train with me. I know a cool shuriken jutsu that I could show you," Naruto said, knowing that Sasuke wanted to learn it. Naruto learned it shortly before he came to talk to Sasuke. He had seen Sasuke do it plenty of times to figure it out himself. The blonde hoped that he would impress Sasuke enough for him to start to like him and possibly respect him. Naruto had a long way to go though in the span of three months. It would be then that the massacre would happen.

"Me? Train with you? You're the most pathetic one in the academy. How could you ever measure up to the kind of training that I go through?" In actuality, it really wasn't a whole lot compared to what Naruto had been doing.

"Have you ever considered that I don't do well because I don't want to show what I can do? A ninja always hides his secrets as well as his full ability. If you want I could prove it to you," Naruto said, trying to convince the Uchiha.

"There's no way I'd believe you. And just because you can through a few kunai or shuriken doesn't mean that it's a jutsu. I'm leaving, I don't have time to waste on you." Sasuke said just as coldly as before.

Once Sasuke turned around and started walking, he was surprised to see his way blocked by none other than the blonde he had just spoken to. He had moved faster than he could see, and silently at that. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion. There's no way a dobe like Naruto could move that fast. Was there? He had to find out. If he really could teach him something then he could impress Itachi and that's all that mattered.

"Okay fine, show me this jutsu of yours, but you better not waste my time or you'll regret it," Sasuke said in his most menacing tone, which was hardly anything compared to what Naruto had dealt with before, mostly from a certain fox he knew.

"I promise I won't. I know a training ground we could go to not all that far from here. We could go there and train." Naruto wasn't talking about training ground 27, he had to keep that one to himself. He was talking about one of the unused genin training grounds, which will be filled out next year by team 9, Maito Gai's team. But it would be safe enough to use for now. It's not like Naruto would be using his actual skills.

Sasuke nodded and followed the blonde to the training ground. On the way Naruto tried to make small talk, not getting very many responses besides the occasional grunt. Naruto at least hoped that he could break Sasuke out of his shell by the time the massacre happened. Sasuke was like a brother, and Naruto wouldn't lose him to hatred again.

They arrived at the training ground with the targets already set up. There were seven visible ones to hit, and one hidden one behind a boulder. The goal was to hit the hidden one by throwing a kunai and deflecting it off of another thrown shuriken to hit the bullseye, all the while hitting all of the other bullseyes of the other targets. Itachi could do it with eight to ten visible targets, but then again, he was a genius for a reason.

"Alright, let's get to it right away. I'll show you how to do it then it'll be your turn. Sound good?" Naruto asked looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke just nodded. He had already been impressed that it was the actual shuriken jutsu that Naruto had been talking about. He'd be even more impressed if Naruto could actually pull it off.

What Naruto hadn't realized is that in a tree some distance away, a peculiar raven was perched, watching he scene before it, making note of the two boys and what they were doing. It suddenly flew off, and a few minutes later as Naruto was explaining the basis of the jutsu, a dark figure appeared in the trees, watching what was going to unfold before him.

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 **So there's chapter three. Sorry about the cliffhanger, I know, I'm evil. What do you think about the new friendship between Naruto and Sasuke? Will it last? Who knows. Anyway, feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think and if you have an idea where I should go from here. Till next time.**

 **Status: rewritten**


	4. The Uchihas

**Okay so here is chapter 4. Thanks to all those that left reviews. Constructive criticism goes a long way, as does positive words! For those of you that didn't, thanks for reading anyway! I really appreciate it! Also, every time I post a new chapter, I may go back and revise them and add needed explanations. I will inform you guys if it's anything significant.**

 **No I don't own Naruto, stop asking.**

* * *

Itachi had been training with his Mangekyou Sharingan in secret when his raven he sent to keep an eye on Sasuke suddenly returned. It informed him that Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyuubi Jinjuriki, and village prankster, had led him to a training ground with no one else around. This had Itachi slightly worried, not knowing what the Uzumaki child would want from his little brother. He left the clan compound in a raven shunshin to get to the location his raven told him about. Luckily it wasn't that far and didn't take long at all to get there with the speed he went.

Upon arriving, he was surprised to see the two in a training ground, one of the unused genin ones no less, and about to practice the shuriken jutsu. It was typically something only the Uchiha worked on this early on in their ninja careers. It confused Itachi to think Naruto would know about it, let alone how to practice it. It would be interesting to see if Naruto could actually pull it off. He was perched on a tree some distance away, watching the to boys talk about what they were about to do.

"That's all there is to it really. Accuracy, precision, and timing. More so the latter than anything," Naruto informed.

Sasuke nodded his head somewhat slowly, still not quite believing someone like Naruto could pull off something his brother had spent months perfecting. Sasuke watched as Naruto got ready.

At this point in time, Naruto was battling with his mind and body to make sure what he was about to do wouldn't make it seem like he knew so much more than what he was letting on. He would probably have to miss a bullseye or two purposefully, which would actually be more challenging than doing it perfectly. He was ready as he would ever be, so he jumped up with chakra enhanced limbs to start. He threw eight kunai in rapid succession, four hitting bullseyes, three somewhat missing their mark, and one above the boulder. He then quickly pulled out a shuriken, and threw it at the kunai above the boulder at double the speed of said kunai. The shuriken hit the kunai, successfully deflecting it downward, hitting the bullseye behind the boulder. He proceeded to land in a squat back at where he originally started.

Sasuke had watched this, extremely impressed, with a hint of jealousy, that Naruto had actually done it. Sasuke went behind the boulder only to see that Naruto hit that bullseye as well.

"How'd you learn to do that? The youngest to be able to do it was nii-san, and he was nine. There's no way that someone like you can be better or come close to him!" Sasuke said with confusion and a bit of anger in his voice. There was no way a ten year old that was at the bottom of the class that had failed the graduation exam twice could have done it. Sasuke just couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"What can I say? I practice a lot in my free time," Naruto said sheepishly with his right hand rubbing the back of his head.

"But it's not like I've mastered it or anything, 'cus look I missed three of the bullseyes," Naruto said, indicating the targets with his free hand.

"I guess, but that still doesn't explain how you know how to do it at all in the first place!" Sasuke shouted, demanding an answer from the blonde.

"Well, I had watched an Uchiha do it quite a few times and thought it looked cool, so I decided to learn it." He wasn't lying at least.

"He had been doing it at a training ground that I happen to be passing so don't go thinking I broke into your compound or anything," Naruto said, waving his arms in front of him.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes one last time. If he could learn this to at least Naruto's level, he would impress Itachi and then his brother would probably spend more time with him.

"Okay, so are you going to teach me how to do it or what?" Sasuke said, not really asking it.

"Yeah sure, but let me see you try to do it so I know where you're at."

Sasuke nodded and stepped up to the starting point. He had been practicing this for a while on his own to show his brother but never could pull off the deflecting part. He jumped up the same way Naruto did before and threw his eight kunai at the respective targets. He hit all seven of the bullseyes, but when he went to throw his shuriken at the kunai above the boulder, he had been to late and missed completely. He landed with a huff slightly irritated. He was the best in his class and the worst student could do what he couldn't. He had to fix that.

"Good job, as you can see your accuracy is a bit better than mine. All you need to do is work on your timing. Try making an effort to throw the kunai above the boulder last and have a shuriken that's easy to access at the ready. You have to throw the shuriken roughly twice as fast as you threw the kunai and deflect it off the lower part of the handle of the kunai," Naruto informed, taking out a kunai to show where he was talking about. Sasuke just nodded and got his kunai out to try again. He didn't like taking advice from the dobe, but he'd do anything for more time with Itachi. He jumped up again and threw his kunai. This time, when he threw the shuriken, it grazed the kunai's ring at the bottom, producing a metallic sound. He landed again with a pleased look and turned to Naruto.

"I guess that helped. I'm going to go back to the compound to practice it some more. I'll see you at the academy I guess," Sasuke said a little sheepishly, with his hands in his pockets while looking down.

"Sure sounds good. I have to get back to training too. We should train together sometime. You think we could meet here after the academy tomorrow?" Naruto asked. He couldn't spend the time to come himself, as he had to focus on his own personal training, but he would send a shadow clone that wasn't dumbed down like the ones he sent to the academy.

Sasuke looked a little surprised at this. No one had asked him to train with them before. All anybody at the academy ever said to him was how great he was. The girls would fall over him like some sort of obnoxious fan club while the guys just didn't really talk him out of jealousy. So this was a new experience for him.

"I guess we could. But you better not drag me down." If he had to train with the dobe to impress Itachi, then he would have to stick it out.

"Great! And also, don't take what I act like at the academy seriously. I'm not really like that. It's an act to fool everyone. I suppose you can think of it as an elaborate prank," Naruto said with a finger to his chin. "But anyway I guess I'll see you tomorrow!"

Sasuke nodded, still a little perplexed why he would put on such an act. With that they went their separate ways.

Itachi had watched the encounter curiously. He had been impressed someone had been able to do the shuriken jutsu that was outside his clan and at such a young age. Itachi was by no means arrogant in his power, but he knew he was better than most ninja at Naruto's age. For it to be the kyuubi jinchuriki was all the more strange. To his understanding, Naruto had done poorly at the academy. This was too fishy. He had to find out more. He would follow Naruto back to where ever he planned to train and then confront him about it. As he watched the boy leave, he was surprised how fast Naruto could move, he was faster than most genin and he was only a second year academy student. He would have to question the boy on that as well.

After about five minutes of heading back to training ground 27, Naruto noticed someone was following him. He had gotten pretty good at being able to tell with ANBU tailing him, or least trying to, everywhere he went. This one was a bit better than most though, because it had taken him a little while to sense him. It was the briefest of signatures, but it was there. Whoever they were, they were careful to hide themselves a lot more than the rest of the ANBU that hid from him, or he or she was just immensely better at it.

Naruto changed directions to head to his apartment instead; he couldn't let anyone find out about his secret training ground just yet, or at least anyone interested in tailing him. He got to the roof of his apartment about ten minutes later and decided that he'd call out to the hidden ninja.

"You can come out now, I know you're there." Suddenly Itachi appeared with a flicker. Naruto had suspected it to be him considering he was with Sasuke and close to the Uchiha compound. He was curious to know what he wanted.

"Very impressive Uzumaki-san. I didn't think academy students knew how to sense ninja, let alone a hidden one such as myself," Itachi said stoically. He was dressed in the typical Uchiha way, with a high collared black shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, and gray pants that were tucked into his open toed combat boots.

"Lets just say I'm not your typical academy student. I train very hard and I like to keep my abilities hidden from others. As you know, the civilian council doesn't think of me too highly, and if they found out that I was actually much more skilled than what my academy scores say, we both know that they would try their damnedest to get me thrown out of the program." Naruto didn't want Itachi suspecting too much, knowing that he'd blow his cover if it was considered a village issue by taking it straight to the Hokage. Yet another reason why Naruto respected the man so much.

"I suppose I can understand where you're coming from. But that doesn't explain why you're trying to spend time with Sasuke." Itachi had heard where Naruto learned the shuriken jutsu, and it was a very probable story, so he wouldn't press into that.

"Well, I saw that he would always train and that he didn't have many friends in the academy. I don't really have many either with the whole village hating me thing, for whatever reason. I figured I could connect to him through training since that's all he seems to do or care about, and I could show him a few things that he'd maybe want to learn." This made sense to Itachi, and regardless of who it was, he was glad that someone was actually trying to become friends with his brother. With him being an ANBU captain, he couldn't spend nearly as much time as he'd like with Sasuke. If he could have a friend to fill in the time that he couldn't, then he wouldn't stop it.

"Alright. Treat my brother well Naruto-san. I'll be seeing you." And with that, Itachi vanished in his trademark shunshin.

Naruto was glad for the way that ended. He didn't have to explain anything all that much and that was okay with him. He started off to the training ground once again, only to be stopped dead in his tracks by a low and ominous sound. "Well, maybe I should eat first."

XXX

Over the next few months, Naruto continued with his training and sending his shadow clones, to the academy, library, and with Sasuke. The academy didn't really change besides the occasional knowing glare from Sasuke after one of his infamous pranks, but he expected that. While training with Sasuke, Naruto noticed that he was more talkative than he was in the previous timeline. Probably because he only had the Uchiha arrogance and not the soon to be hatred to deal with. They would talk about their training methods and about their lives. Sasuke kind of felt sorry for Naruto with him having to deal with the scorn of the village all the time, and for being alone with no family. He didn't think it was right for anyone to have to live that way. He was also surprised when Itachi had covered for him when his father had asked where he'd been going after classes. Itachi had said that he stayed in a training ground close to the academy to train instead of walking back to the compound, which was partly true. His father tried to argue that clan techniques shouldn't be on display for anyone to see and that he should stay in the compound. Itachi again came to the rescue by saying that it was unused and that it would be a safe place to train. Sasuke didn't know that Itachi knew about his training, but was glad that he did so he could keep doing it. Naruto was better than he was as much as it pained him to admit, and surprisingly the so-called dobe had a lot to teach him. With Naruto's help, he was able to complete the shuriken jutsu. Not on the scale of Itachi, but he had gotten the approval of his brother after showing him none the less. After that his father had let him continue to train at training ground nine as long as he came back home before sunset, which Sasuke had no qualms with. He had started to enjoy training with Naruto and would be disappointed if he was forced to stop.

The day before the massacre, Naruto had to make sure to have a serious talk with Sasuke about their friendship. He needed to be certain that Sasuke wouldn't shut himself off to the world and bottle his hatred up like before. After the academy was over, they met up at their usual training ground. This time Naruto had come in person, wanting to make sure he handled this right.

"Hey Sasuke could I talk to you about something?" Naruto asked after they had done their warm up exercises.

"Yeah I suppose," Sasuke said a little concerned. He didn't want to talk about anything deeply personal with Naruto because in all honesty, he didn't know how to handle situations like the one Naruto was in. Over the months they had kind of opened up to each other, talking about their lives and what their dreams were. He realized that Naruto had had a hard life, but the blonde brushed it off like it wasn't a big deal most of the time.

"We're pretty good friends by now right?"

"I guess, if you want to call it that," Sasuke said with a bit of reluctance. He did consider Naruto a friend, but it was still difficult for him to admit it.

"If something bad happened to either us, we would talk to each other about it, right?" Naruto asked, not sure how the boy would respond.

"Well, I'd probably go to Itachi nii-san first, but I guess I'd see what you had to say about it," Sasuke said scratching his cheek. "And I'd probably listen to you if you had somethin' on your mind. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. I was just wondering. I've never really had a friend before so I was just curious."

Sasuke could definitely relate to that.

"Anyway, let's get back to it. We can't be wasting our training time by talkin' about stupid things like that, dattebayo," Naruto said, doing his best to school his expression to not reveal that he knew something. Sasuke just nodded, wondering what that was all about, then pushed it out of his mind to focus on their training. He had a long way to go if he wanted to catch up to Itachi.

XXX

The next day was a difficult one for Naruto. He had half a mind to tell Sasuke, but he knew he couldn't. He wouldn't even believe him anyway. He had continued to train like usual. This time however, he tried to get Sasuke to train with his clone longer than they usually did, but he couldn't stop Sasuke from leaving, so he let him go. Naruto hoped he had made enough of an impression on him so that they would stay friends, and Sasuke wouldn't push him away. He was tempted to send a clone to observe the ordeal, but thought better of it, knowing that Itachi would be able to find it easily, and Naruto didn't want to have any sort of suspicion from the soon to be missing nin.

Seeing that it was past sunset, Naruto knew what Sasuke was going to walk in on. Naruto only hoped that Sasuke didn't blame him for keeping him.

Over the next week, Sasuke didn't show up to the academy, or the training ground. Naruto would have gone to the memorial service, but he wasn't 'invited'. He'd be kicked out for 'disrespecting the memory of the great Uchiha clan' or something like that. Civilians and their prejudices. He was happy that Sasuke had shown up to the academy the next week, but he had cold, dead eyes. Naruto knew them well.

He was actually surprised to see Sasuke show up to their training ground that same day. He rarely spoke, and kept the same lifeless expression on his face, but he was happy that he came anyway. Naruto had tried to ask him if he was okay, but he just got a cold glare as a response. He supposed it was just going to take time. Life went on like that for the rest of the academy year. That summer, Naruto didn't really see Sasuke because he had stopped coming to their training ground. So, instead, he tried to spend time with Shikamaru and Choji, or at least his clone did. Hopefully, he and Sasuke could still train together next year, but only time would tell.

* * *

 **So that's the fourth. Hopefully I did the whole friendship thing okay. I didn't really get into the massacre itself, because I felt the manga/anime went into enough detail about it, and Kishimoto annoyingly made liberal use of flashbacks too. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for Academy days part 2! It'll be a long one!**

 **Status: rewritten**


	5. Academy days, part 2

**I know I said it'd be a long one, but I decided to split the chapters up so I can get content to you guys sooner. Originally this chapter was going to be 15,000+ words, but decided at the rate I'm going, it would take too long to write and get out. So I present to you chapter five. Enjoy!**

 **Were it so easy to own Naruto...**

* * *

A day before Naruto started his 3rd official academy year, he decided he would see how far he had come in his training. He occasionally had taken the resistance seals off around once a month to get used to his new speed and agility, but he never fully tested it. Right now he was in training ground 27, protected by numerous seals to keep safe from prying eyes. He was up to five on his resistance seal level, and it had been a difficult process to get there. He had been training just about every single day since he'd been back, to the point of utter exhaustion. His clone at the library in its civilian henge had also stayed and studied from the time it opened to when it closed. Naruto dreaded the end of the day when he had to dispel his clone, with a surge of knowledge flooding into his mind when he was already so fatigued each and every time. He couldn't help the painful headaches that he always had to deal with. It typically went away within the hour, but it was still rather irritating.

At this point he pretty much well knew the human body like the back of his hand, knowing how to take advantage of every weak point. This included where tendons and muscles were attached, where nerves were, where chakra pathways and points were, and general pressure points. Knowledge now, had been very easily attainable, with Naruto's now seemingly photographic memory. At this point, Naruto guessed that he had read and memorized half the books in the library by now.

Naruto's other main focus had been fūinjutsu, but he had come to an impasse with it, having thoroughly read every available book. When he talked to the old man he would have to ask him for more reading material on it. Naruto could be in deep study of the art for days if he let himself. It was just so fascinating to him, to be able to bend the laws of reality just by some markings and chakra, it enraptured him.

He had still been working on his own seals diligently as well, always improving the ones he had created thus far as well as coming up with ideas for new ones. Luckily, his clone could do all this for him, while he personally focused on the tasks that shadow could not, such as taijutsu and his physique. Now he had an incredibly solid build, not entirely bulky, mainly lean. He was definitely more defined than most chuunin were, and after he graduated the academy he could probably bump that up to Jonin.

Naruto was fairly happy with how far he had come in such a short amount of time. Before he never could train at this intensity, always being busy with a mission, chasing Sasuke, or dealing with the Akatsuki. Shadow clones helped too. The time to face his enemies would come soon, however, so Naruto had to get stronger now.

Standing in the middle of training ground 27, Naruto dropped his resistance seals completely, and proceeded to walk over to the edge of the clearing. He was going to see just how fast he could move in a straight line though an improved version of the shunshin. After that he would test his agility by going through an obstacle course he had set up.

The blonde got ready to go, a look of utter determination of his face. He eyed where he wanted to go, a marker at the other end of the training ground about a quarter mile away. If someone had been watching, they would have seen Naruto at one end, then just simply watch him disappear, reappearing at the opposite end almost instantly. This improved version of the shunshin was better because it isn't really a jutsu. Naruto could move that fast almost entirely physically with a bit of chakra enhancement. It allowed for much more maneuverability, unlike the rather straight lines you had to travel with the traditional shunshin. Not only that, this version could be used in very short distances, where the regular shunshin required you move to a mid to long range location.

Slightly winded from going at his top speed for the first time, he turned around with a satisfied expression on his face.

"That'll do for now," Naruto said with a smirk. He couldn't wait until he surprised everyone with his newfound speed. He had only ever been this fast in his Kyuubi Link mode. He couldn't imagine how fast he would be now. But sadly, he would have to wait to find out.

Next up was the obstacle course. After fully, but briefly, recovering from his mad dash, Naruto walked over to the starting line of the obstacle course. The course was set up so that he would have to bounce and weave through small ground markers in the general direction that the markers would allow. His goal would be to go through the markers perfectly in the smallest amount of time possible. The total distance he would have to travel would be about half a mile, but he planned on doing it in less than ten seconds, well, that was the goal anyway.

Naruto began in a burst of wind, speeding through the markers as fast and perfectly as he was able, only making the smallest of mistakes. Once he reached the end of the course, he stopped the stopwatch that had been in his hand and smirked. He had done it in 10.4 seconds. The blonde nodded contently and then decided to test out his chakra reserves. Since the Kyuubi's chakra had been flowing through him more and more, his chakra reserves had increased dramatically, on top of the training he was already doing to expand his chakra coils. He decided the best way to test this would be to create as many shadow clones as possible, but he soon realized that the training ground probably wouldn't be big enough. So he settled on creating 500 shadow clones, and have all of them create and hold the Rasengan.

If he felt like he could manage it, he'd have 50 or so turn the spiraling chakra into the Fūton: Rasenshuriken. He created the clones and had them all perform the task. He had mastered it some time ago so he didn't have to have another clone help create the blue orb of destruction. Another was still needed for the Fūton: Rasenshuriken however. With his clones' hands full, Naruto was glad he learned how to perform seal-less Kage Buunshin no Jutsu, having 50 shadow clones create one shadow clone to each prepare the blondes deadliest wind jutsu. After some effort, all 50 shadow clones created and sustained the Rasenshuriken, but Naruto was feeling the drain. He had all of then dispel the jutsu as well as the clones after about 30 seconds of holding the jutsu.

Trying to gauge where his reserves were at, Naruto figured he was down to an eighth of his total. This had been the most drained he felt since he had come back. He could recover within a few hours of rest and a good meal. Since he tested himself today, he decided to take the rest of the day off. Sadly, he couldn't test his taijutsu without a sparring partner, so he would have to wait for that test.

Naruto was about to reactivate his resistance seals, but decided against it. In his exhausted state, it would be much too troublesome to deal with. Soon after having that thought, the blonde realized he had been spending too much time with Shikamaru. Naruto left his training ground after deactivating his privacy and barrier seals to head for the best place for recovery food, Ichiraku.

XXX

The next day, Naruto found himself going to the academy in person, a sort of tradition for first days. He knew it was going to be uneventful, but he felt compelled to go anyway. Naruto entered the classroom, only to see that only one other student was there.

"Guess I'm early," he muttered. Naruto tried to make a habit to be at least ten minutes early to everything, knowing what it's like to have to wait for someone for hours for no earthly reason *cough* Kakashi.

Naruto recognized the lone girl in the classroom to be one Hinata Hyuga.

'I always liked her. She was always nice to me, trying her best because of me, she even confe-', Naruto abruptly came to a halt in his thoughts.

'That's right, she said she loved me back when I fought Nagot…' He trailed off in his thoughts. At the time, he didn't think much of it. He thought that she just said that as a sign of devotion to their friendship, but now that he started thinking back on it all, all of the signs and experiences he had had up to that point with her, even when they were fighting the Jyuubi and it's Jinjuriki, it all suddenly clicked in his head. She _loved_ him. He never gave it a second thought before, him always needing to focus on other things, like Sasuke, the Akatsuki, and Madara.

Naruto had been standing a few steps into the classroom, wide-eyed, staring directly at the Hyuga girl.

"N-N-Naruto, w-w-w-why are y-you staring at me?" Hinata stuttered looking at her desk, giving the occasional glance towards the blonde. Her face was bright red, her already having been blushing slightly when she noticed him come in the room. When he had stopped suddenly and started staring at her, it had her just about ready to fall out of her chair from embarrassment.

Naruto blinked, then looked down with a sheepish expression, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, sorry Hinata, I was just, um, remembering something that happened awhile ago. I didn't mean to stare," he said, even though he knew that it was actually some years into the future.

"I-I-It's okay, I don't mind if you stare," the rosy faced girl said, the last part barely a whisper.

"Uh, did you say something?" Naruto asked. He hadn't heard what she said, being engrossed in his thoughts. Hinata just furiously shook her head, her blush as present as ever. Now that the blonde actually understood what her blushing was all about, he couldn't help but blush a little himself. This went unnoticed by Hinata however, her face being buried in her hands. It was almost too much for her. Naruto quickly took his seat at the desk to the right of the one Hinata was sitting at. Naruto always sat in the back row, or at least his shadow clones did, but he decided he'd change that this year. As the awkward silence began to build, Naruto couldn't help but break it.

"So uh, why are you here so early Hinata?" The indigo haired girl almost visibly flinched at the question. Naruto was actually talking to her! Sure he occasionally gave a comment or two throughout the years, but he never really held a conversation with her. She didn't really know how to respond.

"Um, um I, uh.."

"Oh, well you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Naruto said sheepishly, looking away from the girl.

"N-no, it's fine!" Hinata barely managed to get out. "My f-father said I should b-be early, it being the first day of the year and all."

Naruto turned his head to look at her again, seeing her looking down, poking her index fingers together nervously.

"Oh, is that right? I kinda thought the same thing heh heh," Naruto said scratching his cheek with his finger, chuckling awkwardly. He really didn't know how to handle this girl right now. He had gotten used to girls and talking to them being around Ero-sennin all the time in his previous life, but this was so much different for some reason.

They let the awkward silence between them grow once more, Naruto furiously racking his brain to come up with something to talk about, but came up with nothing. Hinata was no better off, but she was berating herself for not being able to talk openly with the blonde. They sat in silence until Iruka finally arrived, giving them an excuse for the silence that had grown. They were both relieved when he walked in. Iruka gave a smile to both of them.

"Good morning. You two are awfully early," Iruka said, setting his things down at his desk.

"Well, we're not all that early. Class is supposed to start in like, ten minutes," Naruto replied.

"Naruto, you being ten minutes early is unheard of," Iruka said with a deadpan expression.

"Yeah, well, maybe I'll change that this year," Naruto replied with a huff, crossing his arms.

"Right, and I'll take over for the current ANBU captain tomorrow," Iruka said sarcastically while he began writing on the chalkboard.

Soon after, the rest of the students began making their way in. Naruto was relieved to see Sasuke walk through the door as he proceeded to walk over and sit on the blonde's left-hand side. Naruto just side stared at him with a slightly bewildered look. That was becoming a trend today that the blonde really didn't appreciate. Sasuke gave a glance towards Naruto, his hands folded over in front of his face.

"Reason you're staring dobe?" was his cold response.

"Uh, sorry, no. I'm just a little surprised you sat next to me is all, not that I didn't want you to or anything," Naruto said with a half smile, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand.

"Whatever. Listen, I know I've been acting fairly harsh towards you, and you don't really deserve it. We…" Sasuke paused, once again glancing at Naruto, "should train together again." Naruto took a moment to process this information, and then beamed at his regained friend.

"Yeah, sure thing! But we may have to go to a different training ground, 'cus the one we used to go to is occupied by the new team 9 under Maito Gai," Naruto informed somewhat enthusiastically.

That isn't a problem. We can use my clan compound. Kami knows that no one else is going to use the training grounds there anymore," Sasuke uttered lowly, with a twinge of sadness and quite a bit of anger laced in his voice.

"It kind of sucks being alone there all the time, as I'm sure you can understand." Naruto nodded, face growing grimmer by the second since the mention of his compound.

"I mean, are you sure? I'm pretty confident we can find another place-,"

"No it's fine. We can use it. After class then?" It wasn't really a question, not really leaving any room to argue. Naruto gave a resigned nod.

"Alright, yeah that's fine." It was Sasuke's turn to nod.

"I have to get stronger, because, I'm going to kill my brother," he said with a chilling voice. Naruto looked down at his desk with a pained expression. He had to get Sasuke out of that way of thinking. Maybe he could tell Sasuke the truth one day.

Soon after, they both focused on Iruka as he started the first day announcements. While the two boys had been talking, most of the girls in the class had been staring daggers into Naruto, Namely Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno.

'How dare he talk to my Sasuke!' they both thought simultaneously. Naruto had noticed it, but he didn't really pay it any mind. He had felt killer intent above and beyond anything that those two could even remotely dish out. Sasuke had noticed as well, he just didn't care. He was actually glad Naruto decided to come personally today. Sasuke knew the blonde sent clones to class every day while he trained elsewhere. While at the academy, Sasuke could usually tell if Naruto sent a shadow clone in his stead or not, usually by the way Naruto acted. It pissed him off however that he couldn't pull the Kage Buunshin no Jutsu off so he could do the same thing. But he knew that his chakra reserves just couldn't match up to the blonde chakra tank. So in the mean time, Sasuke would reluctantly sit through the academy, bored out of his mind.

During Iruka's lecture, Naruto's thoughts had wandered back to Hinata. He would really have to figure out what to do about her. He needed to learn how to act like his former self around her, because things couldn't continue like they did today. He'd have to work on that. But for now, he'd just have to make due. Maybe he'd learn something from his interactions with her this time around.

As Naruto's thoughts slowly drifted off, so did he, getting a very annoyed expression out of Iruka. Naruto didn't really care, though. The lecture was boring anyway. That was until a chalkboard eraser came souring through the air, aimed directly at the dozing blonde.

*BONK*

XXX

A week later, Naruto was once again at training ground 27. He had already done his physical workout for the day, his resistance seals at six to push himself a bit. He was focusing on something new. Before he knew he could sense people in sage mode, as well as malice in Kyuubi mode, but he wanted to work on being a sensor without either. It would improve his situational awareness substantially, more than it already is.

He had gotten the idea from one of the chuunin scrolls his clone "happened to find" in the library, that a chuunin had left at a table. The scroll described a 'flare' jutsu that let other ninja know where the individual was by sending out a pulse of chakra.

While practicing in the confines of his many seals, Naruto realized that he could sense things with it, although faint. It required a large amount of chakra for most ninja, but more or less unaffected Naruto.

He had begun playing with it, trying to figure out how to send out pulses faint enough so that Naruto wouldn't be broadcasting his location to enemy shinobi. The concept was like how sensory shinobi can detect chakra presences, only much more detailed.

Naruto was sitting down in a meditative state practicing it when he was alerted that someone was close by by one of his seals. This particular seal was an area detection seal that would send the creator signal if someone were to trip it, much like a motion sensor. All it required to work was that the caster was in the area that the creator lined out, and it covered a much larger area than his barrier seals. When alerted, a seal would light up on Naruto's wrist, giving off a slight tingly sensation.

Upon opening his eyes, Naruto stood up to look in the direction he felt the person at. He was surprised when he saw a purple haired kunoichi with a katana strapped to her back, in standard ANBU gear with a white mask that looked like a cat. She looked around cautiously, making Naruto a little nervous when she got really close to the edge of his barrier seals.

"What's she doing here? I didn't think anybody came to this place!" Naruto harshly whispered, "Wait, could it be that Anko reported the area?" Naruto was confident his barrier seals would keep her out, but what he didn't need right now is suspicion from anyone that rank. The ANBU continued to look around until she bumped into the side of an invisible wall, knocking her down on her behind. She was now sporting a confused expression, not that Naruto could see it. The purple haired girl stood up and prodded the invisible wall with her finger.

She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary on the other side of it, but it was strange that it was there in the first place. After studying the wall a little further, she gave a huff with her hands on her hips.

Naruto at this point was ready to bail if she knew a way to get past the barrier, however unlikely it was. It also helped that Jiraiya and Kakashi were the only ones that knew anything about seals. Naruto still worried, though.

"Anko was right, something is up with this place. I'll inform the Hokage to inform a seal master to deal with this," the purple haired ANBU uttered softly with slight annoyance. She then turned around a sped off to report her finding to the Hokage.

With a sigh of relief, Naruto slumped his tense shoulders. "Whew, that was close. But now I have to find a new training ground," Naruto angrily muttered, "I think I can handle the forest of death, and to my knowledge, nobody ever goes there, with the Chuunin exams being an exception. I probably wouldn't even have to put barrier seals up."

Naruto walked over and started deactivating his seals once he was sure the ANBU was out of sight completely. Once he was done, he started off towards the infamous training ground 44.

"This place won't be nearly as bad as last time. Not only were the creatures a problem, but enemy Genin were everywhere ready to ambush as well as that Snake-teme." Naruto was definitely glad he wouldn't have to deal with Orochimaru for at least a few more years. The blonde was pretty confident he could beat the snake by then, though. With his renewed strength and access to a much more controlled malevolent chakra, Orochimaru was in for a beating that he'd never expect.

Naruto came out of his thoughts once he arrived at the barbed fence that marked the entrance of training ground 44. He stood there and stared a moment at the ominous looking forest.

"Well, no time like the present. I'll have to show the animals who's top dog around here too, just like in Genbu (Turtle island), and I won't even need your chakra to do it Kurama. These animals will be weak as shit compared to the animals there. I kinda miss the big gorilla, though." Naruto hopped over the fence with ease and dashed off into the forest.

"It's not like you could actually use it if you had to use it," Naruto heard the fox lazily say in his mind.

"Yeah, well, oh shut up." If Naruto could see her, he knew Kurama would have that smirk on her face. He loved the fur ball but she could be so annoying sometimes.

It took him awhile, but Naruto finally found a clearing big enough and deep enough in the forest where he could train without being bothered or be in fear of prying eyes . This forest would be a great place to train his sensing abilities too, with the abundant wildlife all around. Naruto spawned a few shadow clones to work on that while he began to wander around to get a better feel for the forest. During his Chuunin exams, Naruto remembered how intimidating the forest was, but now it wasn't so bad at all, a change the blonde really liked. A little later, Naruto was back in the clearing and spawned a few hundred clones with a thought and had them scatter. He knew there were maps of the forest already, but Naruto wanted to make his map. If he was going to conquer this place, then he was going to be damn thorough about it, mapping and all.

"Looks like I have a bit a work ahead of me," the blonde said with a confident smirk.

XXX

Naruto was working on his wind manipulation when he received the memories of a few of his shadow clones.

"Hmm. Shadow Clones won't cut it for that. I'll have to pay it a visit," Naruto said smirking. He then began making his way towards the location his shadow clones were at.

Naruto kind of expected it, but not as soon as this. What his clones encountered were spiders. Giant spiders. The creatures themselves weren't a problem, as his clones could easily avoid them. What 'killed' them, was, by the look of it, the king spider. Apparently, his clones had gotten a little too close to where the queen resided.

If Naruto was going to conquer this forest, he might as well start by making the current leaders answer to him.

After speeding through the trees, Naruto landed in front of a giant web-like structure that was bigger than most houses.

"Well, this looks like the place," Naruto said with his fists on his hips. At that point, the Jinjuriki was completely surrounded by angry looking spiders, itching from the blonde to make a move. Looking around, Naruto gave out a pulse of chakra which definitely didn't go unnoticed by the black arachnids. Based on what he felt, Naruto guessed there was about a hundred around him. Many, many more underground.

"WELL?! LET'S GO!" Naruto shouted getting in a ready stance. A moment later, all the spiders that encircled him charged.

The first spider that reached him, Naruto drove his fist into it's head, feeling the satisfying crunch against his fist. With the first one down, Naruto became a blonde blur, using his fists and kunai to wreak havoc on the hoard of spiders. Each spider went down one after another, the creatures trying their best to flank and take the orange clad human by surprise.

Naruto drove a kunai into the belly of a spider that tried to pounce on him, quickly pulling it out to block the fangs of another that came from his left. Quickly building chakra in his left hand, Naruto drove a blue orb of rotating chakra on the spider's underside.

"Rasengan!" Naruto spun around and jumped in the air just as two more spiders landed on his previous location. Naruto threw two kunai with explosive tags on them, detonating on impact and sending spider guts everywhere. While in the air, a spider that was larger than most jumped down and tried to land on the destructive human. Naruto saw this, and gave a smirk just as the bigger spider landed on top of him, burying its stinger into the chest of the blonde. Landing on the ground, the larger spider moved off the intruder with satisfaction, only to be thoroughly surprised when the human poofed out of existence with three Rasengans ripping its back apart simultaneously. Giving a screech of pain, the spider curled up the way spiders do when they die.

Naruto landed on the ground after jumping off the fleshy heap, his two shadow clones dispelling themselves.

The remaining spiders surrounded the blonde, now too afraid to attack after they bore witness to the death of one of the fiercest arachnids in the forest.

"Aw come on, are ya scared," Naruto mocked. He was soon silenced however, when he heard a few loud thuds against the ground behind him. Naruto slowly turned around to see a spider that had to stand at least four meters tall. Naruto looked up at the giant creature with no fear in his eyes. The massive spider angrily stared back with all eight eyes.

"So you must be the king my clones bumped into. Nice to meet ya," Naruto said with a beaming smile. "As you can see, none of your spiders stood a chance against me, so I'll offer you this, obey me and I'll spare the rest." Naruto wasn't sure if the king could understand him, but he thought it was worth a shot. For emphasis, twenty of the blonde's shadow clones stood in the trees, each holding a Fūton: Rasenshuriken, ready to unleash them at any moment. This didn't go unnoticed by the king. The sound of them alone was enough to tell that the spinning white orbs would have no problem wiping out the rest of its children, including itself. As if to add to the effect, Naruto leaked out a bit of Kurama's chakra, thoroughly making some of the smaller spider quiver.

The king gave a hiss, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow. "It would help if I spoke spider. Apparently he can more or less understand me, though," Naruto muttered, his hand to his chin.

After a few tense moments (tense for the spiders that is), Naruto brightened his expression and snapped his fingers.

"That's it! Hold on a moment." Naruto sudden outburst caused more than a few flinches from the black arachnids. Naruto sat down and unsealed some of his fuinjutsu supplies and began writing out script on two pieces of seal paper. After about fifteen minutes of the king watching the blonde curiously, he suddenly stood up.

"Alright, all done! Hopefully with these, we can properly communicate!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. He then placed one of the seals on his forehead.

"Okay, I'm going to have to place this on your head, if you understand, lower your head." The king spider looked upon the blonde suspiciously for a few moments, but then complied and lowered itself to the ground, maintaining as much dignity as possible in front of all its subjects.

Naruto placed the seal on top of the spiders head and activated it. Moments later, the spider heard the blondes voice in its head.

"Hey there! Can you understand me now?"

"What is this you have done?" the spider responded in a low hiss like voice.

"I simply made telepathic seal converters so we can speak telepathically. It only works if we're right next to each other though. To be honest, I wasn't sure if it would work. I've been working on this particular seal for sometime but haven't had anything to really test it on," Naruto said with his hand to his chin. The king just eyed the human, never relinquishing its suspicion of the boy.

"Why have you done this?" the king asked in its unique voice.

"To make a deal with you. You and your spiders serve under me, and I won't kill your queen. Sound good?" Naruto said with a grin. The king didn't visibly or audibly respond for a minute.

"You don't leave me with much a choice. We will serve under you, but we will not leave this forest," the king finally responded.

"That's fine. I just don't you to go attacked me or my friends. Plus I have this idea. I would like you to guard the forest from intruders, unless its for the Chuunin exams that is."

No response.

"You are quite strong for such a little creature," the king said with a hiss, "Not like those who typically wonder in here. You have proven your strength, and we will do as you ask."

"Awesome! Another thing I was thinking about on my way here, was that if you would mind if I created a summoning contract for your kind. It would take a few days to draft up, as well as apply the necessary seals for those who I would summon." Naruto looked up at the king expectantly.

"I will consider it, and I will have to discuss it with our queen as well. It is interesting. No one before has been interested in summoning contracts with our kind. You have my interest human. Now leave this place. My kin is not fond of your continuous presence here." The king spider then began to turn around.

"One more thing before you go," Naruto said, "how is it that you're so intelligent? I've encountered intelligent animals before, I just didn't expect one to be in this forest."

"There are many of us, champions of our own species. There remain a few more in this very forest. Most however, hide themselves away. Now begone." Naruto just gave the king one last smile before he turned to leave.

'Man this is going to be so cool. Creating my very own summoning contract, who'd of thought?' Naruto happily thought to himself. As Naruto began walking back, the spiders cleared a path for the frightening blonde, something Naruto couldn't help but snicker at.

XXX

"Well, this is it. The training ground we'll be using is just over there," Sasuke said indicating a training field a short distance away. It took a week for Naruto to actually come and take up Sasuke's offer to train at the Uchiha compound. Naruto himself wasn't a big fan of the idea, but Sasuke insisted, so the Jinjuriki relented and went. The Uchiha compound had been really impressive to Naruto so far. It definitely showed that the Uchiha took themselves too seriously as one of the most powerful and wealthiest clans in Konoha. All of the homes were elaborate, made with the highest quality building materials, yet they were structured in a simple, but elegant manner.

The boys made their way over to where Sasuke lives, the most elegant and elaborate house in the middle of the compound.

"We'll be eating and resting here when we're done," the raven haired boy said. Naruto gave a nod and proceeded to follow the Uchiha to the aforementioned training ground.

"Wow Sasuke, I know living by yourself must be lonely, but I can't imagine how you feel with such a big place all to yourself." Sasuke just gave a grunt in response.

After they got to the middle of the training field, the boys stopped. "So, what do you want to work on today? Taijutsu? Ninjutsu? Target practice? Or we could always do some chakra contro-,"

"Fight me Naruto," Sasuke interrupted. He had a determined look in his eye and voiced his reasoning.

"I know you're stronger than you let on, and that you're a little better than me. I need to see how big of a gap there is between our power." Naruto looked at Sasuke with a fake incredulous look. If only Sasuke knew how big that gap actually was.

"I don't know, I think we're pretty neck and neck. I just know a few more things is all." Naruto hated lying to him, but he really didn't want to reveal how strong he was to anyone just yet. Naruto also knew that Sasuke wouldn't take it well if the Uchiha found out just how big that gap was. Naruto would wait for now.

"Naruto, I know you're lying. Whenever we get done training, you're not even winded," Sasuke tried to argue.

"You can really just chalk that up to high endurance. I've always had crazy high stamina, you know that from the academy spars my shadow clone has with the other students," Naruto tired to defend. "Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea right now. Maybe another time?"

Sasuke stood there with his hands in his pockets, glaring at the blonde, not taking no for an answer. "Even if you say no, I'll just start attacking you and you'll have to defend yourself."

Naruto sighed. He knew he shouldn't fight Sasuke. The Uchiha would know just how much the blonde was holding back.

"Okay fine. But can we do it tomorrow? I've already done my physical training today so I won't be at my best, like I'm sure you want me to be." Sasuke narrowed his eyes before giving a reluctant nod.

"Fine, tomorrow it is then. Let's work on ninjutsu then. I need to get my Katon: Gakakyu no Jutsu (Fire release: Great Fireball jutsu) down. It's still too weak. What'll you work on? From my understanding, you don't have any other ninjutsu besides the Kage Buunshin no jutsu," Sasuke said, expectantly looking at Naruto.

"Well actually I do. I'm wind natured so I can work on some wind jutsu." Naruto wasn't lying either. Naruto's wind jutsu currently numbered at a measly one, even though it was his strongest jutsu at the moment. He needed to learn some other ones. Sasuke nodded then gestured with his hand to get Naruto to show him. Naruto went through the proper hand signs.

"Futon: Daitoppa (Wind release: Great Breakthrough)!" A ball of air burst from Naruto's mouth, but felt little more than a breeze upon release. Naruto had seen Orochimaru use the jutsu and the hand signs weren't that difficult to remember. Naruto just couldn't get the power behind it like the snake Sannin could, but that was to be expected from only seeing it done a few times.

"I'd say you need to work on that one dobe," Sasuke said with slightly cold tone.

"You're never going to let that nickname go are you Sasuke- _teme_?" Naruto shot back with a smirk.

"Not on your life, dobe."

They separated and walked to create some space for each other's ninjutsu training, Sasuke with his fire and Naruto with his wind.

* * *

 **So there ya go. I hope I did alright. Fight scene coming up, well, spar. I don't really know how well I'll do with it as it is my first time really writing one, and I don't know jack didly about fighting, but imma give it a shot! Also, what'd you think about the Spiders? Should make for some interesting situations. Drop a review and tell me what ya think or if you have an idea about where the story should go!**

 **Status: Rewritten**


	6. Similar hardships

**As promised, a few days. Thanks for all of those who are reading! I wasn't expecting to have so many follows! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy as I present chapter 6.**

 **Ownership of Naruto has not been relinquished to me.**

* * *

Luckily the next day, Naruto didn't have to send a clone to the academy. Now he would be able to go and spar with Sasuke that morning to get it out of the way so he could focus on his own training. An hour past dawn, Naruto showed up to the Uchiha compound.

"Sasuke! We gonna do this or what?" Naruto yelled at the entrance. He saw Sasuke turn the corner of one of the vacant houses and start walking towards him with a smirk on the raven haired boy's face.

"Yeah dobe, let's do it."

They both walked to the training ground that they trained at the day before. 'I'm gonna have to up my resistance seals to eight if I want to hold back enough. That should slow me down to around his level,' Naruto thought to himself. They squared off facing each other, each with his own smirk.

"So how we gonna call this? Till one gives up?" Naruto wanted to establish at least some form of rules.

"Yeah, that or the other one can't continue. Everything is allowed, but we should probably avoid kill shots," Sasuke said, slightly surprising Naruto, albeit internally. Sasuke really was different in this timeline than he was in the previous, but yet he still had the same ambition.

"Alright sounds good." Naruto popped a clone into existence. "He'll call the match." Sasuke nodded.

The clone raised his hand, then dropped it, yelling, "Begin!" And at that, the boys sprang into action. Sasuke started by throwing several kunai and shuriken at the blonde, only to be countered by the same boy with his own thrown weapons, defecting everything Sasuke threw. But Sasuke had followed his thrown weapons to follow up on them. Naruto was impressed with his speed for a 3rd year academy student, but it was still painfully slow to the blonde. Once the weapons were deflected, Sasuke feinted a right rook and attempted a leg sweep. Naruto barely jumped up out of the way, but towards his opponent and threw a series of punches. A few hit their mark, but were otherwise deflected by the Uchiha boy. Sasuke jumped back and started going through seals. He landed on the tiger seal and unleashed a fireball about the same height Naruto was. It once again was very slow, and Naruto managed to dodge out of the way. 'Man he isn't playing around,' Naruto thought, going through a few seals himself while he was still in the air from dodging the fireball.

"Futon: Daitoppa!"

This wind jutsu was a lot more powerful than what Sasuke had seen 'Naruto' do the day before, and it was much faster. Sasuke tried his best to dodge the incoming projectile and barely managed to avoid it with it hitting the left side of his body. With a wince, Sasuke skidded on the ground, then started to chase after the blonde, only to be surprised when he didn't see him. He had a sinking feeling and spun around only for his face to meet a fist, sending him sprawling backwards on the ground.

"Alright I give. Nice one dobe. I didn't think you were that fast," Sasuke said with a smirk, wiping his chin with the back of his hand. Naruto reached his hand down to help the boy up.

"Well, technically what you saw wasn't speed. The 'me' that you were fighting was a shadow clone, but I dispelled him when you were trying to dodge its jutsu. I had substituted him out during our exchange with the kawarimi no jutsu to end up behind you. All I had to do then, was come up behind you and deliver the finishing move," Naruto said in an informing, almost teaching voice. Sasuke grabbed the offered hand and was hoisted up by the blonde.

"That was fun dobe, we should do it again sometime," Sasuke said with a smirk and glare in his eye.

"Yeah, but not anytime soon. We both need to get stronger to see any real progress. How about we spar once a month to see how we've progressed through our training?" Naruto offered. He didn't want Sasuke to bug him every day for a spar because he had his own training to do. "Yeah sounds good. I will beat you one of these days."

"Well, only time will tell. Anyway I need to go run some errands in the village then get to training. I'll see you at the academy tomorrow." As Naruto said this, he began walking out of the compound and held up his left hand as a goodbye gesture. In all honesty, Naruto didn't have anything to do in the village, but he figured it would keep Sasuke off his back as to the location of his training. No one needed to know that right now. Sasuke just nodded through this.

"Whatever dobe, Ja-ne (see you later)." Sasuke turned around to do his training for the day as the blonde walked out.

As Naruto was walking down the street, he couldn't help but notice how difficult it was to move in the eighth level of his resistance seal. The seal was designed to up the resistance factor by two at every level, making it progressively more difficult to move up. This could be tweaked to 1.5 times instead of 2 if it was too much, but Naruto more often than not just bore through it. At this level however, it was just ridiculous. He had done it to make it fair against Sasuke.

While he fought, he had to pour all of his efforts into moving at the speed he did. There was no way he'd be fast enough to get behind Sasuke like he seemingly did in the spar, so he managed to pull off a substitution while Sasuke hadn't noticed. It was going to take a long while before he got used to this level of resistance. Luckily he found out that with chakra enhanced muscles, he could lessen the effect of the seal, while still applying the same force to his muscles. This also doubled as precise chakra control exercises, something Naruto couldn't keep up for very long.

As Naruto came to the edge of the village he toned down his resistance seal a couple notches so he could move to training ground 44 quickly and unseen. As a precaution though, he always sent off of clone to walk around the village and eventually back to his apartment just so no one got suspicious, not that many would really care. But still, he didn't want to take the risk.

Naruto arrived at the fence of the forest and proceeded to jump it and run in. Once he was at the clearing he usually trained in, he made 300 clones.

"Alright, you hundred, work on wind manipulation, and possibly come up with some new jutsu if you can. You hundred, work on lightning manipulation. The last hundred, work on fuinjutsu and perfecting brush strokes, as well as coming up with some ideas of new seals. Go!" Naruto commanded and sent his clones to work.

"Alright, now let's get the eighth level under control." With that, Naruto upped his seal once again and began a grueling physical work out that he'd work on the rest of the academy year.

XXXXXXX

Over the next five months, Naruto continued to send clones to train and spar with Sasuke. He realized that Sasuke couldn't ever hit him after the next couple of spars, so sending clones in his place wouldn't be much of a problem anymore. However, Naruto did stop sending clones to the library, having read everything and learning everything he could that would be useful for him, at least until he could get into the restricted sections. Remembering Haku, he also started to practice with senbon needles, perfecting his accuracy to hit critical locations and pressure points to incapacitate his opponents.

There were quite a few clones that had gone through the process as well, not appreciating being the targets for target practice. He had also made some headway on his lightning manipulation. He was by no means at Chidori level, but he could pulse lightning out of his hand without feeling numb afterwards, and in his book that was immense progress. He was glad he made his clones handle all the backfires that messing with the unstable element caused.

After seeing Sasuke and Kakashi do so much with it, Naruto kind of wanted to learn it. What he hadn't counted on, was that after a little bit of work, lightning was coming pretty easily for him, or at least easier than it should. He guessed that it was his second chakra nature, because it still was by no means nearly as easy as wind manipulation, not that it was easy by any stretch. He had also developed a few wind ninjutsu. Not very powerful ones mind you, but hey, it was progress. After messing with wind chakra for so long, he also got the idea of enhancing his moves with not just chakra, but wind chakra. If it was anything like his Rasengan, then it would up his power considerably. He had to make sure to be careful though because the Rasenshuriken destroyed his arm the first time he used it successfully. The idea was still in it's infancy, but he had started to work on it a little. He knew it was going to take a long while to perfect it though. Luckily, he still had six years until shit really hit the fan.

Currently, Naruto was once again in his favorite clearing in the forest of death, when one of his clone scouts reported in by dispelling itself.

"Huh, well I guess I should of expected her sooner or later. She does come to this place pretty often if the previous timeline was any indication." He was surprised that it actually took this long for her to find him. He had dispelled all of his clones that were training just in time for a certain purple haired kunoichi to land about 30 feet from him, still beautiful as ever.

"What the hell is a gaki like you doing in this place? Are you fucking stupid or just plain crazy?" asked the purple haired woman with an incredulous expression on her face.

"Well, I like to train here. I don't have to worry about other people bothering me all the time," Naruto said somewhat sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Train here? Do you know what this place is you fucking brat? Death is in the title for a reason." She somewhat yelled out, but it didn't intimidate Naruto in the slightest, putting her slightly on edge.

"Yeah and that's exactly the kind of deterrent I need for people to stay away. Plus all the weapons and stuff the beaten or dead genin left after the chuunin exams two months ago were pretty helpful," Naruto said, still sheepishly, but in a tone that showed no fear.

The way the kid played off seeing dead bodies slightly unnerved her, then she processed the other part of the statement.

"Wait, just how long have you been coming here?" Anko asked a little shocked. For someone as young as this kid to be able to stay in here for that period of time, it was unheard of.

"Well, I had to move training grounds around 6 months ago after the first one was found. Funny enough you were the first one to find me there, as well as this place." At this Anko scrunched her nose up in confusion before it dawned on her.

"Wait, you're the one that placed those seals all over the place! There's no way a gaki like you knows about seals to that extent!" she yelled in a disbelieving tone.

"Well I like to think I do, but you don't have to believe me. I could prove it to you sometime if you'd like. Oh yeah, I have a question for you." Anko looked at him a bit taken aback by his casual tone. Almost all the genin she had ever seen in this forest were always on edge, fearful even, and even more so whenever she interacted with them. For an academy kid like this to be acting this way in front of her, unsettled her further. She just nodded at Naruto's statement acknowledging him to continue.

"Well, back at the other training ground. I knew you couldn't deal with the seals so it was understandable why you left, but why did it take so long for someone to come check the place out, and why was it an ANBU and not you?" Naruto asked genuinely curious, although he had guessed what it was.

Anko paused before answering. "Well, I was on my way to a mission and decided to take a short cut and happened upon it. As to why it wasn't me, I wasn't that interested in it. I just reported it like any other shinobi loyal to the village in that position would do." Anko didn't really know why she was telling this kid this, but his easy going nature made it easier for her to talk to him, albeit unnerving given the circumstances.

"Yeah I figured. Oh by the way, I didn't catch your name.."

"A fucking gaki like you doesn't need to know who I am. I'm taking you to the Hokage to explain yourself," Anko said in a colder tone, crossing her arms.

"Well, why would you need to do that? I'm just an academy student, working on my skills to become a ninja. Is that really so bad?" Anko didn't know whether to take him seriously or not, but she knew in her mind that he wasn't simply an academy student. There was something very off about him. She narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, having no effect on the blonde.

Receiving silence from her, Naruto came up with a possible solution. "How about this. We have a friendly spar of sorts. If I win, then you don't tell anyone about what I do in here. If you win, then I'll come quietly to see the Hokage with you." Anko just smirked and then chuckled darkly.

"Right 'cus I'm just going to let you make a deal when you have no fucking right to. Watch what you say kid, it could get you killed, or worse," she said, losing all humor in her speech.

"Oh come on don't be like that. If you know you can beat me, then what's the harm in showing me? The way you put it, it seemed like it wouldn't take you very long at all," Naruto said with an innocent smile.

"You know what, fine. But if you get seriously hurt or killed, it's on you." Naruto smirked at her remark. He knew that he couldn't afford to play around with seals on, as Anko was one of the village elite Jonin, so he completely deactivated them. After he did that, his smirk grew into a devious grin, one that people would recognize as his 'prankster' grin. Anko saw this and got into her battle stance and prepared to lunge. What she didn't count on, was that right before she was going to take the gaki down, the blonde just vanished. She had never seen someone move so fast. Before she knew it, he was behind her with a kunai to her throat.

"Well, I guess that's my win." Anko let a chill go down her spine. She doubted that was his full speed, so just how fast was he? She reluctantly nodded after a moment and the blonde pulled away from her, prompting her to turn around and face the winner.

"How the hell do you move so fast? That was fucking ridiculous!" Anko exclaimed, demanding an answer while rubbing her neck.

"Lots of training. Hard, brutal, training. But to be honest with you, I didn't know I was that fast. I haven't tested it in while, so, sorry, I guess," Naruto said rubbing the back of his head. At this point, Anko just refused to believe that this blonde could exist. To know how to move that fast at such a young age, Itachi didn't even compare to that. She had seen him in a fight or two around the village before he went and betrayed Konoha. To think that someone could be better than him, it sent another shiver down her spine. She shook her head to get out of her daze and looked back at the blonde.

With a serious expression, she asked, "Who are you Gaki?" Once again, this was more of a demand, spoken in a low tone.

"Naruto Uzumaki, your friendly neighborhood prankster, annoying the shit out of everyone that he can, at your service." As he said this, he took an extravagant and exaggerated bow with a smile on his face. At the mention of his name, Anko narrowed her eyes a little. Where had she heard that name before? It was so familiar. She internally cursed herself for not paying attention to village affairs. This boy was interesting though, that was for sure.

"If you want to spar again, I can throw my resistance seals back on to make it more of a challenge for you." As the blonde said this, Anko couldn't help but notice that there was no condescension, judgment, or arrogance of any kind in his voice, but pure genuineness.

"What makes you think I need you too. You just caught me off guard, it won't go like that next time," Anko said with a huff as she crossed her arms underneath her bust, making it that more pronounced.

Naruto had to look away for fear of a blush as he put his hands behind his head. "Heh, so there's going to be a next time is there?" When Naruto said this, Anko realized what she said, and couldn't help but widen her eyes, but then quickly close them with a huff.

"Well you're definitely more interesting to fight than most other Jonin so I don't see why not."

"Well I'll be here if you ever want to go again. Also, I still don't know your name," Naruto said while scratching his cheek, knowing full well what her name was, but she didn't know that.

"Anko. Anko Mitarashi." She said this with a grin, having moved her hands to her hips. "And if you fuck with me, I'll fucking kill you." She kept up her grin as she said this. No matter how old Naruto was mentally, that was still a little unnerving the way she could say that with that facial expression.

"Well it's nice to meet you Anko. I take it you'll honor our agreement and not tell anyone about me?" Naruto asked a little cautiously.

"Yeah yeah don't worry about it gaki. I'd rather keep you to myself anyway. If I told anybody they'd just ruin my fun."Again she said this with her trademark grin. Naruto couldn't help but shake his head at this.

'Same old Anko,' he thought. "Well, now that I have your word that you won't tell anyone about me, I'm going to get back to training. I still have a bit to go with my speed before I'm satisfied." Naruto turned towards the clearing, reactivating his seals as he did so. When he had said that though, Anko blanched a bit. 'Just how much faster could he possibly fucking be? Or even want to be? I didn't even see him move! Though I wasn't really expecting it, so I think I'll just chalk it up to luck. My guard won't be down the next time.' Anko thought to herself as she watched the blonde walk towards the middle of the clearing.

"I'll catch ya later gaki. There's a stick of dango callin' out to me." And with that, she left the blonde alone in the clearing.

On her way to the dango shop, she couldn't help but think about her encounter with the blonde. He was definitely strong. Far stronger than anyone his age rightly should be. She'd have to come back and see what he'd be up to in a few days. She had to go on another mission soon anyway.

Back in the clearing, Naruto was also thinking back on his strange encounter.

"Well, at least I controlled my hormones this time. It'd be embarrassing as hell if I acted the way I did the first time I saw her. Anyways, I think that went rather well all things considered. Plus, I think I just found a sparing partner and possible friend. She's gonna be interesting to be around, that's for sure. Well anyway, time to get back to it. Got a long way to go."

"Who are you talking to?" a clone asked him.

"Caught off guard, Naruto face faulted, but quickly recovered. "Oh shut the hell up!" And the seemingly self-made clone was popped out of existence with a swift strike to the chin.

Naruto then returned to his regular training, well, regular for him.

A week later, Naruto was once again in his training ground. He was about to head home for the day when his clones alerted him of someone coming. They landed in front of him with a grin.

"Hey Anko. What brings you by?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"I like you gaki. You don't bother with honorifics. I've always hated formalities. As to why I'm here, I just got back from my mission not too long ago." At this her face darkened a bit, and Naruto caught it, but he pretended not to notice.

"Anyway kid, thought I'd get a rematch, seeing as how you surprised me last time. I'll make sure to kick your ass this time." the purpled haired girl said, the grin and color returning to her face.

Naruto could tell that whatever her mission was, it was bothering her. She probably came to vent a bit, which he was very much willing to do. He could understand needing to fight out your frustrations.

"Yeah, yeah. I was about to head home actually so you came at a good time. Seeing that it's getting to be around the time I eat something, you want to join me when we're done?"

"Whoa kid. You're ten years too young to be asking me out." Anko said playfully. This made Naruto blush significantly.

"N-no it's not like that I swear! I just thought i-it would be nice to eat in company!" Naruto exclaimed waving his hands in front of his face. Anko noticed his blush and decided to act on it. Messing with people had always been her favorite thing to do.

"What you don't think I'm pretty enough or something?" she said with a pouty face.

"N-no! It's not like that at all! I think you're beautiful! I just, I don't know! I just thought I'd ask!" Naruto said with increasing distress, putting his arms in front of his face as if to protect himself from an incoming punch.

Anko, was caught off guard by what he had said. No one had called her that before. It was always snake whore, slut, or worse. She had never been given a compliment by a male since she got back from Orochimaru's hideout. Luckily Naruto didn't see the shock on her face with his arms in front of his. She got over her shock just in time as she schooled her features into a playful smirk.

"Don't worry about it kid. I'm just fuckin' with ya." She said as Naruto peeked over his arms.

"Oh, well, um. I-is that a yes or a no then?" he said a little sheepishly, looking at the ground.

"Sure gaki. Now back to the matter at hand. I was about to kick your ass," Anko said with her smirk still intact.

Naruto put on a serious expression then smirked, forgetting about his previous embarrassment. "If you think you can Anko." He toned down his resistance seals to four. 'That should put me around the same speed as her, probably,' he thought. He got down into his fighting stance and raised his hand to gesture her over to him. "I'll let you make the first move this time," he said with a glint in his eye.

"Oh you're gonna regret that gaki," she said with an equal glint and murderous smirk.

They stood there for a moment, waiting for either to make a twitch, when she suddenly shot forward to engage in taijutsu. Naruto saw her strike and was about to counter it, but was surprised when she suddenly shot back.

"Seneijashu (Hidden shadow snakes)!" As she said this, a stream of five snakes shot out from the sleeve of her tan trench coat to ensnare their prey. Naruto had forgotten that she knew snake jutsu like the snake sannin. Because of this, he was caught off guard and one of the snakes nicked his arm. As soon as it did he realized that the snake had injected a poison into him. Luckily, his tenant would take care of that.

'Yo Kurama! Can you flush out my system with your chakra?' He shouted into his mind.

'Yeah kit way ahead of ya. I ain't about to die by some measly poison because you can't seem to avoid a slow strike by a slower opponent.' the fox grumbled right back at her jailor.

In his momentary lapse in his mind, he failed to notice Anko shoot towards him taking advantage of the opportunity she left him. She had a kunai in hand this time, ready to slice his jugular. Just in time, Naruto caught her hand and deflected the attack and punched her in the gut, sending saliva out of her mouth and sending her flying through the air. She landed in a three point stance, skidding on the ground about 20 feet away.

'Holy shit this kid can punch hard!' Anko yelled out in her mind. She couldn't believe that something so small could hit so hard. She knew he was fast, but to be this strong too? It was just ridiculous!

"Damn gaki. You got some impressive strength there. But let's see if you can handle this!" She said hunched over, never losing her smirk. Naruto smirked right back and shot forward. He threw a series of punches and kicks, each being blocked or deflected expertly by Anko.

"You're pretty fast Anko, but let's step it up a notch." Naruto began to realize that he was only slightly faster than Anko, but he still hadn't seen her full speed yet. At his comment, he shot back, making a seal-less kage buunshin appear behind her. Since he was unsure of her speed, he'd need a backup plan. She shot forward to chase after him, attempting to punch him in the temple, but missed purposefully, throwing her weight into a heavy axe kick to his shoulder. She wouldn't do this against a regular opponent, but Naruto was short enough for it to work. What she hadn't counted on was her leg being caught from behind right before it started to make its descent.

'A clone? When the fuck did he make that?! Don't tell me he can do it without seals! Who is this kid?!' She furiously thought to herself, only to be interrupted by a side kick to her upper back, once again sending her flying off. She manipulated her body to land in a three-point stance once again, but with a little less grace. When she stopped skidding, she barely had time to dodge six shuriken hurling towards her head. With the ample distraction, Naruto managed to in her blind spot. He threw a sweeping kick to knock her down, but to his surprise, she jumped up to evade it. Realizing his blunder, Naruto tried to jump back, only for the bottom of his chin to be smashed by a steel-toed combat boot.

As Anko was about to celebrate her win, 'Naruto' puffed in smoked. Immediately becoming alert, Anko spun around to look for the blonde, only for the wind to be knocked out of her by a swift blow to the stomach. Naruto then side kicked her on the collar bone, knocking her to the ground.

Naruto then pounced on her, kunai at her throat. Before she realized what happened, she felt cold steel against her throat and a weight on top of her.

She looked up to a smirking Naruto.

"Looks like it's my win again, Anko- _chan_." At this, she sent a snake from her sleeve to tear out Naruto's wind pipe, only for it to burst into smoke, again.

"Fucking dammit! The same thing as last time! Try something new for once why don't ya!" She yelled out in exasperation and frustration at her loss.

"Hey, why change something that works?" Naruto said with a shrug as he walked up to the girl.

"Why the hell didn't the poison work? You should be on the ground paralyzed by now, foaming at the mouth!" She asked a little irritated, as she began to get up.

"Well, let's just say that poison doesn't really work on me, unless it's extremely, EXTREMELY, potent." Naruto said to the annoyed Anko, who just grumbled at his response, not entirely satisfied by his answer.

"Fine, what do you want this time gaki," She said with her arms crossed with her face in a pout.

"Eh? Oh don't worry about it. Company for dinner is just fine." He said nonchalantly.

Anko just stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes. He didn't want anything from her? No ulterior motives? Just her company? No one had wanted just her company before. This kid was getting weirder and more interesting every time he spoke to her.

She lightened her expression a little. "Fine gaki. Where we going?" It was more of a demand to know than a question.

"The place where they serve the food of the gods!" He exclaimed with a finger pointing towards the sky. Anko's eyes lit up.

"The dango shop?!" Anko asked excitedly.

Naruto just looked at her with narrowed eyes. "No I was talking about Ichiraku. They serve the best ramen and ramen is the food of the gods."

They stared at each other for a minute before a spark seems to manifest between their foreheads.

"The fuck you saying gaki. Dango is the food of the gods." She said with a dangerous glare.

"No, ramen is," Naruto said with an equally dangerous glare.

They stood there for a few minutes, waiting for one to admit their defeat at the proclamations.

"Fine. How about we agree to disagree?" Naruto asked, never losing the look in his eyes.

"Why do I have to agree to anything? I'm the one stating the facts here," Anko said irritably. No one had called her out on her food obsession. To have a kid around ten to do it was a new one, and she didn't really expect it. After a few more moments of the stare down, she turned her head with a huff. "Whatever. Let's just go to this Ichi-whatever place. It'd better be good too."

"Ichiraku. It's my favorite place to eat anyway. And the owners are really nice people," Naruto explained, losing all venom to his face and tone of voice.

"Alright lead the way gaki," she said gesturing her hand, replacing her glare with a half smile.

"Sure thing," Naruto said smiling.

But before they left a thought came to Anko. "Nice fight, I bet you enjoyed straddling me there at the end too, didn't ya." Anko said with an evil smirk. Naruto instantly turned towards her red faced.

"Oh stop it! It wasn't like that!" he exclaimed, turning back around with a huff. Anko just laughed at the blonde's expense.

At that they bolted off, traveling through the treetops, Naruto leading the way.

"So gaki, why do you train so hard anyway? I'm sure there's funner things to do than train all day, in the forest of death no less," Anko asked curiously.

"Well, I want to protect my precious people, as well as the village. I'd say the civilians don't really deserve it, but I want to protect all the shinobi and kunoichi of the world. To do that, I have to be stronger than everyone else. And to do that, I have to train," he said with a smile.

'I had my childhood already. To protect everyone else's, I easily give up my second one,' Naruto thought.

"Huh. You're kinda strange gaki. But I have to agree with you with the civilian part," she said with her face darkening. "All they're good for is screaming and yelling about things they don't understand. Especially the council. They're fucking worthless."

Naruto just glanced at her with a sorrowful expression.

"I'm sorry that you have to know that life Anko," he said remorsefully.

"What the fuck do you know?! You know nothing about the hardships of life! What could you know?! You're only 10!" At this point they were both facing each other, having stopped on the tree branches. Naruto just smiled with a sadness in his eyes that Anko had never seen before.

"I know more than you might think. So goes the life of a 'demon' child," Naruto said, thinking back on all the terrible things people had done to him in his previous life. When he said this, it suddenly jogged Anko's memory of who this kid was. He was the host of the kyuubi! She had forgotten, being young when the attack actually happened. She had heard rumors and just now she realized who those rumors were talking about. The look in his eyes told her more than she needed to know anyway.

"Oh. Well, whatever. We've both had a hard lives I suppose. Let's just go," Anko said with a forced smile.

"You know Anko, we might not know each other very well or for very long, but you can talk to me if you want to. You'd be amazed at how talking about problems with someone who understands really feels." Naruto said with a sad smile.

"Whatever gaki. I don't need you to-" she was cut off when she suddenly knelt down, clutching her shoulder in immense pain. 'Not now! Why do I have to have an episode in front of this gaki!' she thought. She bit her lip from the pain, causing it to bleed, before she yelled out in pain.

"FUUCK!" she screamed out, with Naruto at her side with a hand on her back in almost an instant.

"Anko are you okay!?" But she didn't hear him, the pain blocking out all of her senses. Seeing her clutch her shoulder, Naruto suddenly remembered that she had Orochimaru's curse mark, just like Sasuke would eventually have. Forcefully moving her hand to the side, he looked at the pulsing dark circle that was her object of pain. It had expanded to a larger circle with some kanji extending from it.

'It seems that this curse mark is a less complete one from what I remember from Sasuke's,' he thought to himself. Anko wrung free her hand from Naruto's grasp to clutch her shoulder again. Naruto picked her up bridal style to carry her to his apartment. He would have brought her to her own apartment, but he didn't know where it was, so his apartment would do. As he carried her, she seemed to lose her sense of time and where she was, lost in the pain she was going through.

He arrived at his apartment, only to see that his door had been kicked in and the lock broken. 'Shit I don't have time for this right now, but seals are definitely going up after this is over. Break into my apartment will you.' He thought as he walked through the door.

What he saw, he didn't appreciate. He saw two figures about to smash one of his tables in. Civilians.

"Oh look! It's the demon and his bitch! What, you bring her here to spread your demonic seed? Do us a favor and don't. One of you is enough!" the man spat at Naruto, spitting as he did so.

Naruto just walked right past him to the bedroom. 'Good they haven't gotten this far yet.'

"Anko you lie here a minute. I'll deal with my guests," he said with a cold voice, loud enough for the intruders to here, sending shivers down their spines.

He put Anko on the bed just to see her curl up in a ball from the pain. Naruto winced at her, then walked back out to face the to men.

"I don't believe I invited you in. If you would, leave, before I have to do something drastic." Naruto said in the same cold tone. The man to his left seemed to get it and was unsure of what to do, but the man on his right just got angry.

"What can a piece of shit like you do? Just for the amount of disrespect you've shown us by ignoring us and just by existing, I think we ought to beat the shit out of you and teach you a lesson," the man snarled, hitting his fist against his hand as he did so. This brought a little vigor to his companion, as he gained more confidence from the man's threat.

Naruto had closed his eyes during the man's threats, but after he was done Naruto opened them, showing red eyes and a cold glare, contrasting the color to form a terrifying visage.

He then demonically growled out, "I warned you."

* * *

 **So that's chapter 6! I know another cliffhanger. Buy hey! At least this is my longest chapter! I hope I did the fight scenes okay. Like I said, it was a first. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'll probably post the next one in a few days!**

 **Update: Well I finally got it done. (Took me long enough right?) Sorry for the wait. The rewrite should be done soon. I can finally give this one the stamp…**

 **Status: Rewritten**


	7. Academy days, part 3

**Alright so a little later than expected, but here it is! I'll be finishing up the academy next chapter as well as graduation. Then I'll go into more of the canon stuff, well, arcs really. Let's be honest, things are going to go a bit differently. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Koguro Tetsu was having a really bad day. First he gets fired from his job as an assistant to a popular merchant, then he gets mugged on the way back home on his walk of shame. He had been by the demon's apartment while on his way home and it only enraged him further. The Kyuubi had killed both his parents when he was 18, and that the demon who did it got to live on was only insult to injury. He thought that he'd go vent his frustrations on the blonde later that night with his friend that also hated the demon for taking his little sister.

When they got to the apartment later that night, they had counted on the boy being there so they could show him living was worse than dying, but he wasn't, so they compromised and agreed to trash his place. What they hadn't counted on was said boy interrupting them, carrying a busty female in his arms that he no doubt had seduced with his demon charms.

Currently, they were standing opposite of the boy in question when he just gave them a bone chilling threat. He had already felt a little put off by the boy's attitude, but it was nothing compared to the sudden burst of killing intent that they were feeling. It overwhelmed him, almost crushing his very soul out of his body. He wanted to scream out in fear, but could only kneel with eyes wide, absolutely petrified. It had been just like that day 11 years ago, the same feeling of dread. The boy had blood red eyes and a dangerous, feral frown on his face.

 **"I will only ask you this once. Leave, and never come back."** It was demanded, not asked by the enraged boy, seemingly turned demon.

Koguro just nodded dumbly, struck in fear from the boy in front of him. With a motion of Naruto's hand, he scrambled to his feet to flee so he could keep his life intact, his partner in crime following hot on his heels.

As if it were a switch, the killing intent vanished, as did Naruto's anger. "Now that that's taken care of," Naruto said with only a small bit of irritation, turning back to the bedroom.

' **You know, I always relish in the fear that radiates off people when you do that kit,'** Kurama said in her container's head with amusement.

"Oh I bet you do," Naruto said with a chuckle.

Walking towards the bed where Anko was writhing, Naruto's face darkened. He moved to sit beside her, unclenching one of her hands to hold it. She took it and squeezed as the pain tore through her body. Naruto had to wince at the strength she was applying, more so out of sympathy than pain. He stayed like that with her for a few hours until the pain finally passed and she was fast asleep, exhausted from the event.

At this point, Naruto was once again looking over the seal to get a better look. He frowned at it, not being able to see the whole array, but being able to tell that the seal itself consisted of three distinct parts. What those parts were, he had no idea. He assumed at least one part had to be what distributed the chakra that caused the pain.

"This will be a tough one to figure out, dattebayo," Naruto mused to himself.

He was caught off guard when Anko suddenly wrapped her arms around him as she laid in her unconscious form. Not knowing what to do, Naruto just sat there next to her, frozen in place with his arms up not daring to touch her. Eventually, he sighed, seeing as to how she wasn't going to be letting go anytime soon. He lied down on his bed to let her continue to snuggle up against him. All the while his face was bright red from, to his mind, the compromising position he was in with the older Jonin. It was the least he could do to provide comfort for what she had just gone through though. They laid like that for the rest of the night, Naruto getting barely two hours of sleep in once his body made the decision to sleep for him.

He awoke with Anko's arms still wrapped around him with her soft mounds pressing into his side. She hadn't been like that when he went to sleep. Realizing the situation, Naruto's face went bright red, with a small trickle of blood going down his nose. He wasn't mentally prepared for this to happen. He tried to wriggle out of her grasp when she began to stir, letting go and rolling over to face the other way. Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

'Thank Kami she didn't wake up while she was doing that. I don't want to know what she would do to me if she found out she was cuddling with a 'gaki' like me,' Naruto thought to himself and shuddered as he got out of his bed. He probably wouldn't admit it to himself, but he secretly enjoyed laying next to the beautiful woman all night, especially the position he was in when he woke up. He walked over to the kitchen to start making some breakfast for himself and his unexpected bed companion.

Anko stirred once again, the smell of food resting on her nose. She sat up bleary-eyed before she started to panic when she noticed she was in an unfamiliar room.

'Where am I? How'd I get here?' she asked herself, her mind racing. She jumped out of the bed silently to make her way over to where the smell was coming from. She peaked her head around the door frame of the kitchen to see the blonde she had sparred with yesterday making food, breakfast it seemed. Still slightly alarmed, but not as threatened, she stepped over into the doorway to face the would-be chef. Naruto noticed her in the corner of his eye and turned to face her. She had her hands on her hips with an expectant stare.

"Oh, morning Anko," he said with a smile.

"Why am I here?" she demanded.

Keeping up his smile, Naruto started to explain. "Well, we were on our way to get something to eat if you remember, then you suddenly collapsed on one of the tree branches. You looked to be in a lot of pain so I brought you here." At that, Anko suddenly remembered that they were going to that Ichi place when an episode came over her.

"And where exactly is that?" she demanded, never losing the sharpness in her tone.

"Uh, my apartment, where else?" Naruto said with a sheepish smile. He turned back to the food he was making for the two of them.

"I didn't ask you to help me gaki. Why the fuck did you help me?" Anko asked with the same sharpness with a hint of desperation in her voice. She didn't understand how someone she just met would just help her, let alone a brat like this if the rumors about him were to be believed. Right before her episode began, she had remembered that the blonde was the local pariah.

"Well, I mean why wouldn't I? I can't just leave a beautiful girl such as yourself to suffer in pain alone can I?" Naruto said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, glancing at the purple haired woman. She just narrowed her eyes at the boy. She didn't remember what happened after she stopped at the branch last night, much like her previous episodes. She hadn't had one in a few months and was surprised it came as soon as it did. Typically they would come every six months or so. Sparring with the kid must have triggered it somehow.

"Anyway, I'm making us some breakfast if you want to go sit at the table." Anko just nodded hesitantly before she made her way to a chair at the square table in the other room. It was one of the few tables that weren't destroyed in the whole place, and she couldn't help but wonder why most of the kid's furniture was in such shambles.

She didn't have to wait much longer as Naruto brought her a plate of eggs, bacon, and diced potatoes and set it in front of her, as well as a glass of milk, doing the same for himself, sitting across from her.

"Itadakimasu," Anko mumbled irritably, eying the food in front of her, making sure the blonde ate first to make sure it wasn't poisoned before she started eating as well. They sat in somewhat uncomfortable silence as they ate their food. After some time Anko broke the silence with a question.

"Say kid, why does your place look like shit?"

"Oh, well, when I got back here with you, some, unsavory guests were here. They seemed to think that my stuff needed to be broken, but I sent them on their way before they could destroy anything else," Naruto said with a half chuckle that had little humor in it.

Anko was slightly surprised at the explanation. "So what, did you beat the shit out of 'em or something? That's what I would have done, or have done, in the past," She said with a chuckle just as humorless as Naruto's had been.

"No, but I did manage to scare them a bit. I don't think they'll be bothering me again anytime soon," he said thinking back how the faces of the two men had looked.

Anko just laughed a bit. "What about you is scary? I've seen scarier shit from pre-academy squirts!" she jibed at Naruto.

"Oh ha ha," Naruto laughed sarcastically, "let's see if you say that when I go kyuubi on your ass," he mumbled under his breath with a huff.

"Sorry gaki, I didn't quite catch that," Anko said still chuckling at Naruto's display.

After she was done laughing at the boy's expense, her mind was plagued with a question. "Hey, why did you bring me to your place instead of the hospital or something? That's what a normal person would do under those circumstances."

"Well it's because I know that they wouldn't of been any help. All they could of done is sedate you, but with the tainted chakra in your system, I doubt it would of worked," Naruto informed, making Anko perk up in alarm.

"What do you know about the mark?" she asked in a dangerous tone with narrowed eyes.

"Well, if you keep it between me and you, I know it's a curse mark from Orochimaru. The bastard snake came up with it to control people and in return give them power," Naruto said with a little disgust.

Anko just ignored his tone. "How the hell do you know about it?! You're just a fucking kid!" she yelled at the kid, standing up from the table as she did so. Naruto just sighed at her angered response.

"You'd be surprised at how much I know. I actually have an offer for you if you're willing to listen," Naruto said looking up at the alarmed woman.

"What do you have that I could possibly want?" she asked with a scowl, upset she didn't get an answer to her question.

"Well I've been taking to fuinujutsu lately and was wondering if you'd let me try to find a way to remove the curse mark," Naruto said, shocking Anko out of her previous mood. It soon returned though.

"How the hell can a gaki like you do that if Jiraiya of the Sannin couldn't even do it!" she yelled at the blonde.

"Hey now I didn't say I could do it, I said I'd like to try if you let me," he clarified with a smile. Anko still wasn't sure about it. If a supposed seal master couldn't figure it out then how could a kid do it? But she did hate the fucking thing. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to let him try. Any chance she could to get rid of the painful reminder of her past, she'd take it. She wouldn't get her hopes up though.

"Alright fine. You can try. But I doubt you'll be able to do it," she said irritably, turning her head with a huff. She sat back down to finish her food.

"We won't know until I try will we?" Naruto said with an infectious grin that seemed to put Anko at ease. They finished their food in relatively comfortable silence until both had finished.

"Thanks kid. That was pretty damn good," Anko said, her regular attitude showing itself once more.

"No problem." With that, Naruto stood up and took the plates and glasses and went off to the kitchen. He set the dishes in the sink and walked back out to his guest.

"Well this has been fun and all gaki, but I gotta get goin. No doubt my roommate is freaking out that I didn't come home last night. I have to deal with a lot of shit from people so when I don't come home she's always worried sick about me." Anko said with a sad smile. It quickly turned into a smirk as she looked up at the blonde in front of her.

"I'll find you in the forest when I'm not busy for you to work on the mark. Possibly a spar so I can kick your ass a bit," She said with her trademark grin. She needed to leave and think things over. She couldn't really wrap her head around this kid. First, he's crazy strong, and then he goes and says that he wants to try to remove the mark that her traitorous ex-sensei gave her that has tortured her for years.

"Yeah yeah whatever," Naruto sighed with a smile on his face. He hoped that he could talk to the girl about some of her village problems. If anyone could understand the hatred that came from something you couldn't control, it was him.

As Anko was walking to the door, she couldn't help but notice something. "Uh, kid, your door is kinda broken," she said, seeing the door on the floor with the hinges busted out. Naruto just sighed.

"So goes the life of the demon of Konoha," he mumbled to himself.

XXXXX

3 months later

The fourth academy year was going to start the next day. Naruto was currently lying in his bed thinking things over since he came back. Over the past few months, he spent nearly all of his time in training ground 44. Anko would come by once every two weeks or so to spar with him and to try to figure out her curse mark. In all of his fuinjutsu studies, it was by far the most rudimentary, and complex thing he had come across. Afterward, they would usually go get something to eat, typically to either Ichiraku or the dango shop that Anko frequented. Naruto discovered that he actually liked dango quite a bit, but ramen was still king to him. He was really enjoying spending time with the snake mistress. She was crude, disrespectful, sadistically sexual, but all in all hilarious and fun to be around. It also helped that she was extremely nice to look at, her easily being one of the most beautiful girls in the entire village. It kind of frustrated him that he couldn't get her to talk about anything personal with him. Every time he tried, she'd either change the subject or just leave altogether. She'd come around one of these days, he was sure of it.

He also put some seals up to guard his apartment so what happened the night of Anko's episode wouldn't happen again. The defense seal he came up with wouldn't allow anyone to enter through it anywhere it was active, so all of the entry points of his apartment, except for Naruto and those he invited. He also made some privacy seals so people wouldn't be able to overhear him say or do anything. All in all, he was happy with his new 'fortress of solitude'. He needed to get a new place to live though. Living in this apartment for as long as he had was starting to get pretty old. He'd have to take it up with the old man.

Speaking of, Naruto couldn't help but think he should tell the Hokage of his situation. It would definitely help if someone knew of his situation, both in practicality and for his mental health. He could also get access to more scrolls and such if he could convince the grizzled old man.

Thinking about this, Naruto decided to get a second opinion. "Hey Kurama, you think I should tell the old man about me coming from the future?"

Naruto could hear a yawn in his mind and could almost see the fox stretching out. ' **I don't know kit. I'm not sure how he would take it. If he believed you though it would make things a lot easier. Plus you could warn him about the coming future with Orochimaru and all that.'** Kurama said with a disinterested tone. ' **Plus it would explain the power you have and will have by the time your academy year is over. As much as I would love to see the fear on people's faces when you go orange, I don't think it would go over well if no one knew about your situation,'** the fox informed.

"Yeah I guess your right. I'll go tell him today then. No time like the present right? Wait, is that weird coming from me? Me being a time traveler and all that? Kurama? Hello?" Naruto waited for a response but just got a resounding snore in his mind signifying his tenant didn't care. "Oh fine be that way." Kurama just smirked and went back to sleep.

Naruto got dressed and ready for the day by going through his morning routine and eating breakfast. He looked in the mirror and frowned somewhat at what he saw. "You know, I should probably get out of this kill me orange jumpsuit. As soon as I'm genin, I'm going shopping for some more shinobi-esque clothing," Naruto said with a determined look. He left his apartment and started off to the Hokage tower.

Upon arriving, Naruto got several dirty looks from the shinobi that were standing guard. Naruto just ignored them and went up to the secretary.

"Hey I need to see the Hokage about something involving village security," Naruto said hoping the girl would let him in without fuss. Luckily, she didn't look up from what she was doing and waved him in. As Naruto was walking through the door, she looked up to see the demon had just gotten past her. She scowled and tried to stop the boy but was too late as Naruto closed the door in front of her. She reluctantly went back to her desk muttering something about 'demon children' and their 'evil ways'.

Naruto walked into the Hokage's office only to see the old man looking down at a pile of paperwork with a scowl on his face.

"Hey Jiji, how goes the paperwork?" Naruto said with a smile.

Hiruzen looked up from his work to greet his favorite blonde with a smile. "Oh it goes I suppose. For what do I owe the pleasure Naruto?" the Hokage asked, pushing aside what he had been working on.

"Well, actually Jiji, I need to talk you about a few S-class village secrets that I know about." Hiruzen's face suddenly turned serious as he looked at the boy. Did he know about the fox? Or his parents? How could have he found out?

"Naruto this isn't something to be talking about lightly. If you're lying or pulling a prank I will have to punish you," the old man said in his stern Hokage voice.

"I know I know. But I'm telling the truth and I would prefer if you sent your ANBU out, as well as activated your privacy seals. I can't risk having anything I say leak out to anyone that isn't us." Naruto said in a voice far more mature than Sarutobi had ever heard from the boy. Hiruzen hesitated for a moment, but nodded his head and lifted his hand up to signal for his ANBU to leave. He was also surprised that Naruto had known about his ANBU. When Naruto mentioned them, he looked directly at all three of them like they were out in the open clear as day. Upon leaving, he could of sworn he heard a scoff from one of the ANBU, but he couldn't be sure. Afterward, he activated the privacy seals in his office to keep prying ears from hearing anything.

"Naruto this had better be good."

"Alright, well I'll get straight to the point then. Five years from now, a group calling themselves Akatsuki will resurrect Madara Uchiha, and he then becomes the jinjuriki for the 10 tails, the culmination of all the tailed beasts. From this, a thing called Zetsu revives Kaguya Otsutsuki, the mother of all chakra and shinobi. Me and Sasuke tried to fight her, but she beat us with ease, killing us both, bringing about the end of the world. While I was dead though, the Shinigami for some reason or another was interested in me and sent my mind back in time to when I was first going into the academy. Since then, I've been training night and day, fooling everyone with the help of Kage Buunshin into thinking that I'm just the dead last in the academy." Naruto took a deep breath after his explanation. After the first sentence, Hiruzen's eyes had been wide in shock and continued to grow in it as the boy went on. After his rather quick explanation, he settled down after a moment and narrowed his gaze at the boy in front of him.

"That's quite the tale Naruto. You know how crazy that sounds right? From Madara, to the 10 tails, to the shinigami," Sarutobi said in a disbelieving tone.

"Well, I didn't think you'd believe me. Guess I'll just have to prove it then. I suppose information will do as a first step. If I wasn't from the future, how would I know about the Kyuubi sealed inside of me? How would I know that my parents were Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki? How would I know that the Uchiha massacre was orchestrated by you and a few others to kill all members in order to prevent a coup attempt, with Itachi taking the blame?"

If Hiruzen was surprised before, then nothing compared to how he felt now. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How did this boy know all of these things? He didn't even seem fazed by any of it! After staring at the boy for a few moments, the old man just sighed.

"If you know those things then that doesn't leave much room for me to not believe you. Also what you have said is very disconcerting if it is indeed true. Alright Naruto, I believe you." Naruto just sighed in relief, thankful that the Hokage believed him. A weight seemed to lift off his shoulders as well.

"Thanks Hokage-jiji, that makes things easier. I wouldn't know what to do if you didn't believe me. Well, I suppose I could have shown you my abilities." Naruto said with a finger to his chin.

"Speaking of, just how strong are you Naruto?" Hiruzen asked genuinely curious.

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say around high Jonin level. But by next year I doubt anyone short of the Kage, elite Jonin, or Madara will be as strong as me," Naruto informed matter-of-factly.

Hiruzen was taken aback by this. "Are you serious!? You're saying that you'll be one of the strongest shinobi in the elemental nations? At such a young age, I find that hard to believe Naruto.." he said with doubt in his voice.

"Well I mean I could always show you. Right now I think the only one in the village that could match my speed is Kakashi and maybe a few others," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Alright, Naruto we'll have to test you on that. You can graduate early and be promoted early if your abilities prove to be true."

"No that's okay Jiji. I want to stay at the academy and make friends. I also want to be on Kakashi's team with Sasuke and Sakura. That's how it was before. Sasuke eventually left the village to train under Orochimaru to gain the power to defeat his brother. I've been working on being friends with him so he doesn't do that, but I still don't know if he'll go or not. Speaking of, five months after I become a genin, at the chuunin exams, Orochimaru will attack the village with Sunagakure. He leads the village hidden in the sound, the new one that popped up recently," Naruto once again informed.

Hiruzen just had a grave expression. "That's troubling news indeed. We'll talk more about it when the time comes though," the old man said with a halfhearted smile. "This is quite a bit to take in at once. You're dismissed for the day while I'll think things over and what I should do. Come back tomorrow after the academy. I'm sure I'll have some more questions by then. Hopefully, this timeline doesn't end like yours did," Hiruzen said with a chuckle. Naruto just smiled at the grizzled old man.

"Hopefully not. Anyway I'll see you later Jiji. I'm going to go train for the day," Naruto said as he was about to leave, only to be stopped by the Hokage's voice.

"Speaking of, where do you train Naruto? I haven't heard any reports of you training outside of what an academy student should," Hiruzen asked in confusion.

"Oh, I train in the forest of death. No one goes there except Anko, but she's pretty cool." At that Hiruzen's face paled as Naruto walked out of the room. His face became serious again however when Naruto peeked around the door.

"It's really nice to be able to talk you again Jiji," Naruto said solemnly. And with that, the blonde took his leave.

Slightly confused at his departing words, Hiruzen regained his composure after a few moments and deactivated his privacy seals, signaling for his ANBU to reenter the room.

"This is going to be an interesting few years, to say the least," the Hokage mumbled to himself, returning to his paperwork, never really paying attention to what he was reading. His ANBU just glanced at each other, confused by the whole situation.

XXX

The next morning, Naruto got up early as usual to do his morning workout. Typically it would extend into the afternoon, but today was the first day of the 4th year of the academy, and he had to uphold tradition. With his resistance seals at level eight still, he ran laps around training ground 44 for about an hour, afterward, he did 100 push ups, pull ups, sit ups, and squats, that taking him about another hour. After looking at the sun and determining it was about a quarter till eight, he turned his resistance seals back down to six. At six, it was much more manageable to go about day to day activities. Six is where he'd tone it down to whenever he wasn't training. Only the strongest shinobi in the village could actually move well enough to fight at that level.

Using chakra enhanced movements had become second nature at this point, improving his chakra control considerably. This also helped increase his chakra reserves gradually.

To deplete his chakra reserves, he'd have to have the seals active for three weeks straight. He turns them off whenever he sleeps so he doesn't have to worry about that though.

Deciding that it was time to head to the academy, Naruto pulled out a seal. It was one he had been working on for while and just finished it the week prior. He put it on his exposed chest and activated it with his chakra. The seal then spread across his body, removing all the dirt, sweat, and grime he had accumulated during his workout while leaving a pleasant scent when it was finished. The whole process takes around three minutes, but it saves time when you can't take a shower. Naruto still preferred actual showers over the seal, but he was kind of in a hurry because the academy started at 8. After he got that out of the way, he unsealed a fresh pair of clothes to change into.

"Man this orange monstrosity get's worse every passing day. I can't wait till I graduate and get cooler clothes," Naruto muttered to himself as he got dressed.

When he was done, he started off towards the academy, when a smile came over his face after he remembered something.

'Iruka-sensei. It'll be good to see you again,' he thought.

It took him about ten minutes to get to the academy building and one more to find his classroom. When he walked in he was greeted with a small glare and then a forced smile from a man with a horizontal scar across his face. 'He'll get over his hatred for me by the end of the year. Just you wait Iruka-sensei.' Naruto thought. Naruto just smiled back, happy to see his old/new sensei again. Through

"Good morning sensei," Naruto said with a smile.

Iruka turned from his desk to face the blonde. "Good morning Naruto. Just so you know, you won't be getting away with any more pranks this year. I was nice before, but I'm bringing the hammer down this year. As you would say, believe it," Iruka said with a half smirk.

Naruto just smiled back just as menacingly. "Oh we'll see about that Iruka-sensei." Well Naruto wouldn't, but his clones would. Losing his smile, Iruka went back to preparing the first day activities he had in store.

As Naruto made his way to a seat next to a certain lavender eyed girl, Iruka shot a cold look at the blonde that had begun to walk away.

'Something isn't right with that kid, besides the obvious thing that he's known for. He seems, off, from his usual self. Something about his behavior and speech just now. It's different. I'll have to keep an eye on him,' Iruka thought to himself. After Naruto sat down, Iruka looked down to go over this year's lesson plan.

"Hey Hinata, how're you?" Naruto asked the red faced girl. She was so caught off guard that he sat next to her that she didn't even hear his question. Realizing that he was talking to her, she just looked down in front of her, poking her index fingers together.

"H-hello N-n-naruto-kun, I'm s-sorry, b-but I didn't h-hear you," the girl said, oozing with nervousness. She hoped the blonde wouldn't get angry because he had to repeat himself.

"I asked how you were," Naruto said with a smile. He had worked on schooling his expression so he didn't look like a blushing idiot in front of the girl.

"Oh, ano, I'm g-good Naruto-k-kun," Hinata said softly. In reality though, she was both horrible and fantastic at the same time. She was horrible because she felt like she was going to faint in front of the boy she admired, but fantastic that she was sitting next to and talking to said boy.

"That's good. So are you excited for your final year at the academy?" Naruto asked.

"Ano, I guess," Hinata said, still poking her fingers together.

"Kami knows I am. More like excited when it'll be over. Then I can finally become an actual ninja, the first step in becoming the Hokage!" Naruto exclaimed, making a few heads turn towards him with glares.

"T-that's g-great Naruto-k-kun. I h-hope you c-can achieve your d-dream."

"Thanks Hinata, that means a lot!" Naruto said with a grin. Hinata's face just went redder.

'He's thanking me now? I almost can't handle this!' she thought frantically. She was brought out of her tumultuous thoughts by a boy walking up to both of them. He had a fur coat on with a little white dog on top of his head.

"That's rich Naruto. You? Becoming Hokage? Yeah right. You have to be the strongest shinobi in the village and people have to like you. You don't have either of those as far as I can see. You'd have a better chance sneaking into one of our kennels without being caught by the guard dogs who are always on patrol." Kiba said with a smirk. "Plus you'd have to be able to beat me, and from the spars in class so far, we both know that's not going to happen."

"Well the good news is I'm going to prove it to you when I do take the hat from Hokage-jiji and beat you into the ground. Just you wait." Naruto said triumphantly as if he already knew. Kiba just laughed.

"Yeah right I'll believe it when I see it," Kiba said walking away from the two. Naruto just sighed as Kiba sat at his desk.

"I b-b-believe in y-you, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said with her eyes closed, straining to say the words. Naruto turned to her with a surprised look and just smiled.

"Wow. Thank you Hinata. That means more to me than you know." It was Hinata's turn to look up at Naruto with a surprised look. After a few moments, she suddenly got dizzy and her head began to make it's decent toward the desk. Naruto reacted quickly and caught her head, laying it down gently so it didn't smack against the hard surface. Naruto smiled with a hint of red to his cheeks as he looked at the passed out form of the girl. 'Hinata, if only you knew.'

"Alright class quiet down, let's begin. As most of you are aware, I'm Iruka, your sensei for the year. As you know.." Iruka began a speech about how he'd try to fulfill his teaching duty as Naruto just put his head down and stopped paying attention to irk his sensei.

'Man I hope this year goes by fast. I can't wait to be apart of team seven again,' Naruto thought to himself. I think those were some of the best days of my life.

XXX

When class was over, Naruto went to leave, only to be caught by Sasuke when he tried to stand up. In his daze of sleep, he hadn't realized that he sat next to him. "Oh hey Sasuke, I didn't know you were sitting there," Naruto said scratching the back of his head. Sasuke gave him a deadpan expression.

"I've been here the whole time dobe. Anyway you down for some training?" Sasuke asked with a half smirk. By training, he meant sparring. They were due for one to fill their monthly quota and he wanted to test his new skills against the blonde. Maybe he'd be able to actually land a hit this time. It irked him to no end that he was never able to touch Naruto, always staying just outside of his reach. To have someone his age to so far outclass him had been a reality check. Even when he unlocked his Sharingan in a near death experience from the blonde, he still wasn't able to touch him. It had been infuriating the way he did it too.

*Flashback: one month ago*

"Alright dobe. Today's the day I actually land a hit on you," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Oh we'll just see about that. I'm going to be a bit more serious than our previous spars, just to warn you," the blond said. Naruto had been thinking back when they were on the bridge in the Land of Waves and Sasuke activated his Sharingan in a near death situation. He wanted to see if he could replicate that by making a situation like that on his own. He was sure Sasuke was going to be angry at him for what he was planning, but he'd understand afterward. Wouldn't he?

"Bring it on," Sasuke said confidently.

"You asked for it." As they both got into their fighting stances, Naruto was the first to launch himself at the raven haired boy. Since this was the way they normally started their spars, Sasuke was prepared for it, ducking underneath the blonds side kick to get a hold of his leg. Naruto just spun out of the way of his hand, bringing down his fist, violently crashing on Sasuke's shoulder. With a grunt of pain, Sasuke jumped back to gain some distance.

'Curse him and his speed' Sasuke thought. He was about to launch his own attack when Naruto was suddenly impaled by 13 kunai. Knowing something was wrong, Sasuke looked around for the attacker. Since he didn't see a trace of the attacker, he went over to check and see if Naruto was alright. Naruto began gurgling as he coughed up blood, bleeding out in Sasuke's arms.

"Come on dobe don't do this! You're stronger than this! You can't be taken down by some measly kunai!" Sasuke yelled at the downed boy. In the first time in a long time, Sasuke felt truly scared, frantic even. He was about to lose his one and only friend that understood him.

"I'm….sorry, Sasuke. I didn't *cough* see that one coming. Please… don't forget about our *cough* friendship."

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he gave one last breath, his eyes glazing over shortly after. After a moment of pure shock, Sasuke stood up in rage, determined to find his friends killer. He began searching when his blood went cold when a presence made itself known right in front of him. Sasuke's eyes went wide with shock once more, then were filled with a deep hatred laced with anger.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke screamed. Why was his brother here? Why had he killed Naruto? Itachi just stood there with a stoic and calm expression that infuriated Sasuke even further. He had on a black cloak with red clouds that Sasuke had never seen before that had a high collar that hid half of his face.

"Hello, _little brother_. I've come back to finish what I started," Itachi said in an ice cold tone. As if his tone affected the temperature, Sasuke went stiff from the comment. After a moment of staring at his brother, he looked down, his bangs shadowing his eyes.

"I've kindled my hatred. I've made it my goal to train every day to be able to kill you. Just when I made a friend that I could rely on to help me and understand me, you take him away from me!" Sasuke screamed at the stoic Uchiha. "I'm going to kill you right here and now!"

"You seem to misunderstand. You are an insect that I am here to put out of it's misery." With that Itachi vanished from sight, appearing right in front of Sasuke with kunai in hand about to slash Sasuke's throat. Sasuke's eyes went wide in fear. He didn't want to die, not yet! This isn't how this was supposed to happen! With new found anger, Sasuke's eyes flashed red, allowing him to see the attack, narrowly dodging out of the way. He jumped back to look upon his brother once again, with newfound vision.

'What is this? I can see his movements now! Well whatever it is I'll use it to destroy him!' Sasuke screamed in his mind.

If he could see himself, he'd see blood red eyes with two tomoe in each of them. His vision was crystal clear now. He could make out every single detail and recalled everything he saw with perfect memory. He didn't have time to think about what this new power was though, as he was too focused on the situation at hand.

Itachi pulled down his collar to reveal a genuine smile. "Congratulations Sasuke." In a puff of smoke, Itachi vanished from sight, revealing a beaming blonde with a foxy grin.

"I see that my little plan worked. I told you I was going to take this spar a little more seriously," Naruto said rubbing the bottom of his nose with his finger.

Sasuke was just stunned for a moment. Naruto had died in his arms not two minutes ago, yet he was right here in front of him, and Itachi was nowhere to be seen. It took him a minute, but Sasuke finally put the pieces together. He looked at Naruto with an angry scowl.

"What the fuck was that Naruto!? You know how I feel about my brother! Why would you put me through that?!" Sasuke yelled uncharacteristically at Naruto. "I can't believe you'd make me relive the pain I went through that day!" Sasuke was about to kick the blonde out forever when Naruto's sheepish grin caught his eye.

"Well there was a purpose to it you know. Here take this and look at yourself," Naruto said sheepishly, handing Sasuke a mirror. Sasuke just glared at him for a moment. He reluctantly took the mirror to look in the mirror, when the anger dropped from his features and was replaced by surprise. He looked up at the blonde with wide eyes.

"My, my eyes…" he trailed off.

"I knew that you could only unlock them in a near death situation, and this was the only thing I could think of that was a sure fire way to do it," Naruto said rubbing the back of his head once again.

"You did this, to unlock my Sharingan," Sasuke said in disbelief. His scowl soon returned after the shock wore off though. "I'm still pissed at you for doing that though. Playing with my emotions like that," Sasuke said in a scoff.

"Now listen Sasuke. When we're shinobi, enemy shinobi won't think twice about using your weaknesses against you. That includes the hatred you harbor for your brother. I already know of one teme that will try to take advantage of it. You need to learn to control it and not let it control you," Naruto lectured, "Learn to hone and channel it to your advantage. Keeping a cool head in a fight can be the difference between life and death, sometimes for more people than yourself." He got another scoff from the raven haired boy.

"Whatever dobe. I'm done for today. I want to get used to my new eyes anyway." Naruto just nodded at this.

"Alright Sasuke. Just understand that I did that so you could gain Sharingan in a controlled setting, not when your life was truly on the line," Naruto said sincerely. As he was leaving Sasuke called out to him.

"Naruto!"

"Yeah?"

"Just, thanks, I guess," Sasuke begrudgingly said. This caught Naruto off guard however. Sasuke? Thanking him? Oh this was going to take some getting used to.

"No problem Sasuke. I'll always have my friends' backs," Naruto said with a grin. He turned once more to leave the compound.

When he was gone, Sasuke just spent the rest of the day activating and deactivating his sharingan over and over again.

*Flashback End*

Sasuke was still pretty pissed at Naruto for that, but like Naruto said, he understood why he had done it. After all the training he had done with his sharingan, he wanted to see how he stacked up to his favorite sparring partner.

"Actually I can't right now, I have to go talk to the Hokage about some things. Maybe afterwards though. Can I meet you in your compound in a few hours?"

Sasuke got a confused look on his face before nodding. "Sure whatever dobe. Just make sure you stop by," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah whatever emo boy," Naruto said with a smirk of his own. Naruto stood up and faced the indigo haired girl on his left. "I'll see you later Hinata-chan. Maybe we can train together some time," Naruto said with a grin. Hinata just blushed heavily at the attention she was receiving from her favorite blonde, that and the suffix he had used with her name.

"Y-y-yeah, I-I'd like that Naruto-k-kun," The girl squeaked out. Naruto couldn't help but grin at the cuteness he was witnessing.

"Anyway I'll see ya later. The old man wants to see me for something." Naruto left his two friends.

"B-bye Naruto-kun!" Hinata squeaked once again.

He had to smile at her comment as he walked out the door. The girl's cuteness was getting to be too much for him. On the other hand, he couldn't wait to just shunshin out of a room whenever he wanted. The look on other people's faces would be priceless.

* * *

 **Well there ya go. Hope I did okay. Drop a review and tell me what ya think or if you got an idea about where the story should go! Till next time!**

 **Status: Rewritten**


	8. Different Relationships

**Okay so I lied. This is a bit of a filler chapter as well as explanation. But I tried to develop Naruto's relationships a bit more. Next chapter will have graduation and stuff. It will definitely be my longest chapter so expect a wait. Anyway I hope you enjoy!**

 **I seem to have forgotten, but Naruto does not and will not belong to me.**

* * *

As the blonde left the classroom, a certain pink haired girl was seething at her desk. She had just witnessed her academy crush interact with and make plans with the Naruto-baka. Another girl came up to her who had pale blonde hair also noticing the interaction.

"Sakura did just see what I saw?" The blonde girl asked, just as furious.

"You bet I did Ino. Why would Sasuke-kun even bother to hand out with that dead last baka?" Sakura spat out.

"He even invited Naruto to his clan compound! How unbelievable is that! We should try and go talk some sense into Sasuke-kun so he doesn't waste his precious time when he could be spending it with me," Ino said haughtily.

"Oh no Ino-pig, he should be spending time with me, not you or that that baka Naruto," Sakura said with a glare. "But I do agree we should go talk some sense into Sasuke-kun." Ion nodded at this and the two girls made their way to Sasuke who was on his way to leave the classroom.

"Sasuke-kun!" Both girls called out. Sasuke glanced in their direction and just rolled his eyes. He didn't want to have to deal with his insufferable fan club today. He just stopped to hear the two loud mouths talk so they wouldn't keep bothering him.

Once the girls walked up to the raven haired boy, the pinked haired girl was the first to speak.

"Sasuke-kun why are you hanging out with that baka Naruto? He'll do nothing but waste your time. You should spend some time with people that actually matter, like me." Sakura said with a blush while motioning to her body with her hands.

"Yeah Sasuke, Naruto's the dead last of the class so hanging out with the loser would be pointless, so you should spend some time with me instead, and not forehead over here," Ino said motioning to the girl next to her with her thumb. Sasuke just sighed.

"Is that all?" he asked in a bored tone. The girls looked at each other a bit unsure, and then back at the boy in front of them and nodded.

"Then I'll be going," Sasuke said coldly as he started to walk away. Both girls just got stars in their eyes and squealed.

"Sasuke-kun is so cool!" they both squealed out in unison. Sasuke while already on his way out of the building, could already feel the headache that the squealing was causing him.

"Okay Ino, I know we may be rivals of love, but I think we should team up to deal with this Naruto problem. We have to come up with a plan to put the baka in his place and make Sasuke see him as the dead last he is and so he can see me- I mean us as possible," she paused before a deep blush came over her as she once again squeaked out, "lovers!"

Ino even blushed at the mention of such a thing happening. "Alright Sakura, a temporary truce until we can get rid of Naruto," Ino said with a evil smirk. They both knew they were going to betray one another in the end but they didn't really care. After all, true love conquers all.

"Yeah I can even get my mom to do something about it. She's an elder in the council and has quite a bit of pull. I'm sure if she found out the dem- I mean the baka is hanging around the last Uchiha, she'll do all that she can to oust the the stupid blonde," Sakura informed Ino with a devious smirk.

At that, both girls left the room with a very worried Hinata left behind. She had heard the whole conversation with both girls seemingly not noticing she was sitting only a few feet from them. Hinata would have to warn Naruto-kun when she could. He already had a tough life because of the council, her favorite blonde didn't need their wrath as well when he was still under their power. Hinata got up out of her seat to go find the boy in question, with a renewed determination in her eyes to protect her new friend. She had been content with just watching the blonde from afar, but when he had openly engaged in conversation with her, and made an effort to be friends with her, it was like a dream come true. She left the classroom only to have a certain boy reclining in his chair to open one of his closed eyes to watch after her.

"Geez. Troublesome blonde always getting into trouble." The boy closed his eye again, only to have an eraser hit him square on the head. The boy with a white mark now residing on his forehead lazily opened his eyes to see who his would-be attacker was.

"Shikamaru, class is over. This isn't your napping ground. Go home. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning," Iruka said with a smile.

Shikamaru just grumbled at the thought of the two words 'early' and 'morning' describing each other. He put his legs down and stood up to head out the door.

"Hey Shika you wanna go find Naruto later and see if he wants barbecue?" a plump boy asked the other lazy boy while munching on a bag of chips.

"Sure Choji. I'm going home to watch the clouds for a bit though. You're welcome to come if you want. If not, then, whatever. I'll just see you later."

"Sure Shika right behind you," Choji said with a smile. The boys left, leaving only Iruka in the classroom.

"Man I can already tell that Naruto is going to be all kinds of trouble this year. He sure doesn't act like what's sealed inside him though. Maybe all those rumors about him aren't true," Iruka trailed off in thought. Shaking his head clear of distractions, he sat at his desk to write out tomorrow's lesson plan.

* * *

(Hokage's office)

"Why oh why is there never an end? Never an end to this!" Hiruzen yelled out much to the amusement of the ANBU currently in the room. He was of coarse talking about his all time nemesis, paperwork. So, much, paperwork. The grizzled old man sighed and leaned back in his chair to take a break from the never-ending cycle of paperwork. He was relieved when a knock came to his door, welcoming the distraction.

"Come in." After he said it, he put on a smile upon seeing a blonde headed kid walk through the door. His expression then turned into a frown, remembering what the boy was probably here for.

"Hey Jiji. How goes the illustrious duties of the Hokage?" Naruto asked with a knowing smirk. Hiruzen just sighed and signaled for his ANBU to leave the room. He then put the privacy seals up. Naruto just looked at him with a quizzical expression.

"I'm assuming you haven't come by just for a visit and are here to give me some answers to some questions I most certainly have," Hiruzen said gazing at the boy in front of him. Naruto just took a seat in one of the two chairs in front of the Hokage's desk before answering.

"Well, when you put it that way," Naruto said with a chuckle. "I can't do both?"

Hiruzen's face softened at this. He had always a soft spot for the blonde, him being his surrogate grandson and all.

"Yes well, I do have a few questions about your past and our possible future." Naruto's face hardened at this. Noticing this, Hiruzen decided to tread lightly.

"You mentioned Madara Uchiha. To my understanding, Hirashima killed him in the Valley of the End. So how would he have orchestrated all that you have said?" Hiruzen decided he'd start with a simpler question and nothing directly relating to the war Naruto undoubtably fought it.

"Well isn't that a story. I was hard pressed to believe it myself actually. I guess I'll start with that he didn't die like you said. He unlocked his Rinnegan in that instance, otherwise he would have. But even though his doujutsu saved him, he was much to weak to do anything. Apparently he held himself up underground somewhere with this thing called Zetsu. Zetsu consists of a white half and a black half. The white half is composed of Harashima's cells, powered by the Gedo statue, aka the Juubi's former shell. The black is the one that initially came to Madara with the plan to end the world as it were. He also was the one to transplant Harashima's into him so he could unlock the Rinnegan, only he did so when it was too late. Anyway what Madara didn't know, was that black Zetsu actually planned on reviving his mother, Kaguya, the whole time and stabbed him in the back. As you know, he was successful in this, otherwise I wouldn't be here. Oh and another thing-" he was cut off by a hand that was held up by the old man.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Madara survived, but lived well over a hundred years to carry this out? How did he live for so long?"

"Oh that's because of the Gedo statue. It prolonged his life. With this he recruited a disciple before he died. You may know him as Obito Uchiha. And before you go saying he died, he didn't. Zetsu saved him under Madara's orders. He becomes just as evil as the Uchiha prick when he saw Kakashi-sensei kill that girl Rin. He kinda went off the deep end after that, and still is as of right now. He is also the leader of the Akatsuki by the way. But that's a whole slew of information that isn't really important right now."

"Wait how did Madara do all this if you just said he died?" Hiruzen at this point was very confused.

"Oh. Well that's because Orochimaru-teme improves on the Nidaime's Edo: Tensei (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation). With it he can revive anyone in a immortal body that the caster can then control. Troublesome really. All you can do is seal them away or kill the caster. Kabuto, Orochimaru's student, the bastard, improves even further making it so they survive even after the caster is dead. This is after Orochimaru is dead though." Hiruzen utterly engrossed in the story Naruto is telling him, had to wince, knowing that his former student would die, or had died. Traitor or not, the snake Sanin was still his valued student at one point.

Naruto continued, not noticing the emotion on the old man's face. "He revives Madara who is powerful enough to break the caster's hold on him. After beating the five Kage's we battled him some more. He became mortal once again and became the ten tailed Jinjuriki, seemingly unstoppable. That was until we faced Kaguya who was truly unstoppable, untouchable even. But there you go. That's the short version anyway. That answer your question?" Hiruzen just stared in shock at the boy. Everything that would happen, that _had_ happened to Naruto, it was difficult to swallow. After a few minutes of contemplation, Hiruzen looked back up at the blonde.

"Well that certainly answers a few questions, that it also brings up so many more. But I won't press you with them. It's a future that's likely not going to happen now, because I'm assuming you have a plan to stop it?" the Hokage asked with morose curiosity if the boy actually had a plan.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well I have a few ideas. I don't want to alter the timeline too much too soon or I won't know what will happen. To be safe, I plan on playing out the events that happened in the past, with less death of coarse. There will be a point where I smash their plan off the hinges after I know I'm powerful enough. It'll take me a little while to get the seals I need down though," Naruto said thinking about said seals, lost in his mind on how to create them. Seeing as how Naruto began to wander in his mind, Hiruzen brought him back to reality with a clearing of his throat.

"Oh sorry Jiji. It's pretty tough to figure out dattebayo," Naruto said with a half smile. Hiruzen just sighed. 'Kami he is so much like his mother and father.' the old man thought.

"I believe you Naruto. Just be careful on how you approach things. One false step and it could spell disaster," Hiruzen told the boy with a stern but slightly worried expression.

"Oh don't worry old man, I got this!" Naruto beamed at the Hokage. The old man just sighed in contentment. He would have to trust the boy, well man probably. He brought his eyes to meet the blondes once again.

"Now that that's squared away, there's the matter of your skill. I'd like to know where you stand among my shinobi. Would it be okay if I arrange a test of sorts?"

"Well, I guess that'd be fine. But can it wait till the end of this academy year? Then I'll officially be a ninja under your command and I don't have to worry about the stupid council hounding me all the time," Naruto said with a bit of irritation. "I swear they're more insufferable than they were back in my time." Hiruzen just nodded in understanding. He'd have to do something about the council now that he thought about it. They had been allowed far to much power in these times of peace. Once the Yondaime died during the Kyuubi attack, they had all but snatched all the power they could in the time it took for himself to take the seat again. He just rolled with it, not really needed the power since they were out of war time. Knowing that another one was coming, he'd have to rectify that.

"Oh, and another thing, what of Itachi? You mentioned you knew of his sacrifice. What happened to him?" Hiruzen hated doing that to the boy, but he didn't really have a choice at the time.

"Oh. Sasuke killed him. But Kabuto made the mistake of reviving him as well and he turned against him using Shisui's Sharingan, which I'm going to assume he'll still give to me via one of his crows. After I heard about what he did, I don't I've respected someone as much as Itachi. When shit really hits the fan, I'm going to have to seek him out and see if he'll join us again, or at least can be an ally to the leaf. Coming back probably wouldn't go over to well with a lot of people now that I think about it."

"Yes you're quite correct. An ally however isn't so far out of the question. We'll see what happens," Hiruzen says with a ghost of a shrug, Naruto did catch the action though. He quietly snickered to himself at seeing the old man do something so un-Hokage like.

"Anyways is that all you need me for?" Naruto asked, standing up.

"Yes I suppose that will do for now. Actually hold on, as I recall you said Kakashi was your sensei?" Hiruzen asked with an expected look. Naruto just shrugged before answering.

"Well yeah, the top student and bottom student get put on the same team. The top one being an Uchiha, the last one at that, so it would only make sense if Kakashi be on his team to teach him about the Sharingan," Naruto said matter-of-factly.

"Wait how do you know- oh wait yeah coarse. Forgot who I was talking to for a minute."

"Don't worry about it Jiji. Getting old does that to you," Naruto said with an audible snicker. Hiruzen just shot the boy a glare that had no malice behind it.

"Well thanks for the info Naruto. I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future. But now I have to get back," he gulped slightly, glancing at the stacks of paper to his side, "-to work." Naruto smirked at the old man's menial struggles as he walked out of the office.

As Naruto walked by the secretary, an idea spawned in his head. Just because he couldn't alter the timeline, didn't mean couldn't mess with people a little. He walked up the the secretary's desk, noting the small nameplate on it. He leaned on the desk with his elbows to garner a reaction. The secretary, Akari Kyoko as it seemed her name was, was rather pretty. She had smooth skin with grey eyes. Her hair was a lighter blond than his, although not quite as pale as a Yamanacka. She wore a standard chunin uniform with her hitai-ate tied around her left arm. It was obvious she didn't see combat, since she was stuck behind this desk all day. She looked to be around 22, maybe 23. She had sharp features that complimented her gray, ashen eyes.

"Yo," Naruto said with a grin. The girl looked up from her work with a scowl.

"What do you want brat. You already saw Hokage-sama, what else do you want?" she spat out. Naruto just ignored her tone, still grinning at her.

"What's with the scowl? You're far too pretty to have that kind of face. Lighten up and smile! It'd suit you so much better!" Naruto prodded, trying to get a reaction from the girl. She just scoffed and looked to the side, a brush of red touching her cheeks.

"Whatever demon. Go away, I don't want to speak with you." She risked a glance at the still smiling boy in front of her, looking away with a tad more red than there was before.

'Even though he's the demon, I guess he's still kinda cute for a kid,' Akari thought to herself.

"Okay Akari- _chan_. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask!" Before Naruto left he caught the dumbfounded expression on the girl's face from the way too familiar and intimate suffix as well as first name. She just gaped at the boy walking toward the door, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. It took all Naruto had not to burst out laughing. Once he left with tower, he finally did, getting a few odd looks from shinobi as well as glares of disgust from a few others. It had been worth it though. Oh he was going to make a habit out of this, that was for sure.

With that, he left for Sasuke's compound to beat him again in another spar. He could have a clone do it, but he felt like taking a break today from all his training. It'd be nice to relax, you know?

* * *

"Damn it Naruto! Why can't I land a single hit on you!" Sasuke panted, his hands resting on his knees. Naruto, not fazed at all just smirks at him.

"Maybe if you trained a little more, you could teme. And to think you had the Sharingan, with practice, and you still couldn't keep up with me. Tsk tsk Sasuke," Naruto falsely chided, poking fun at the duck butt haired boy.

"Oh ha ha. Shut up dobe. I will hit you one of these days just you watch," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"I do believe I remember hearing that exact same thing, oh but when was it?" Naruto, mocking the boy in front of him, put of finger to his chin as if trying to remember something. "Ah yes, the last time we spared. Like I said then, I'll believe it when I see it teme." Naruto smiled at the boy, walking up and patting him on the back, none too softly.

"Well I guess there's always next time." Sasuke just rolled his eyes at that. Naruto unseals a bottle of water and offered it to the raven haired boy. He narrowed his eyes before taking the offered drink and downing it in a few seconds. The Uchiha walked over to a nearby house and sat down, leaning up against said house. Naruto joined him while the boy recovered from the lost chakra and stamina. Upon observing their battle ground, there were scorch marks in several places, as well as thrown weapons littering the ground. There were even some puddles from some water jutsu Naruto had used to counter Sasuke's fireball. Sasuke had been extremely surprised when Naruto had used it, not thinking he knew anything outside of wind based elemental attacks. Their were also several fuma-shuriken that Sasuke had tried to distract the blonde in an attempt to use his Phoenix flower jutsu. Much to Sasuke's surprise, Naruto just swatted the weapons away with his hands. His hands! before dodging the fiery projectiles as if he were dodging lightly thrown pebbles. He could tell that Naruto was still far ahead of him. But since Naruto had been teaching him some things, he had improved much more than he would have if he was training on his own. He was grateful to have someone around and not be alone all the time too, not that he'd ever in a million years admit that to his blonde friend, nor would he call him as such. But he did feel like he owed Naruto.

"Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, for helping me, and stuff," Sasuke mumbled, looking in the opposite direction of the blonde. Naruto was just in shock. Sasuke? Thanking him? Who was this!? Where had the arrogance gone that Sasuke was known for? Naruto couldn't remember once the Uchiha thanked him in his previous timeline, and here he was doing it this early. Naruto had to shake his head from his shock so he could respond to the growing awkwardness.

"Uh yeah no problem. We're friends after all aren't we?" Naruto said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hn." Is all that Naruto got in response.

"Well, anyway, I'm going to head out and run a few errands. I'll see ya around teme," Naruto said standing up.

"Whatever dobe." As the blonde walked away, the briefest and smallest of smiles came upon Sasuke's face, if only for a moment.

* * *

(Training ground 44: Forest of Death)

"Hold still would you?! I can't very well look at this thing with you squirming around like that!" Naruto said a little irritated.

"I can't help it I'm ticklish!" Anko yelled at the blonde with a bit of pink on her cheeks.

Naruto had been studying the seal on Anko once again to try to find out more about it so he could get rid of it. It had been a slow going process, but he had been making progress. Anko could never get used to the way Naruto had to touch her neck and back to examine the markings that extended from the curse mark. Kami if she just hadn't been so damn ticklish!

Naruto by this point had discovered that there were three different parts to the seal. One was to hold the chakra that boosted the users abilities, one was to inflict the pain, and the last was to hold some sort of life force as the thing that deteriorated the mind into a husk that just followed orders. The latter could only be carried out if the user actively used the power it seemed, as Naruto had to discover anything that the curse mark had affected. Naruto assumed that Orochimaru had sealed a part of his soul into the mark, and he wouldn't put it past the snake to do it either. It would explain how the seals influence made it so you followed Orochimaru's orders. When Naruto first thought about this, he had to shudder at the kind of experiments the snake had to perform on not only himself, but on other helpless victims. Oh he couldn't wait to destroy the snake in the Chunin exams. Back to the task at hand, even though he had discovered what the seal consisted of, removing it was something else entirely. He had a few ideas, but he'd have to experiment with the impure chakra that stemmed from the mark.

He warned Anko that he'd have to take the experimental route, striking a bit of fear in her eyes at the thought of being experimented on again, only to have Naruto hug her, assuring her that he wouldn't harm her in any way, and do everything he could to keep her out of harms way. Remembering back on it, he was pleased to see that her face was flushed in red. Pushing the pleasant memory aside, he focused on the task at hand.

"Okay, Anko, I'm going to need you to give into the power of the seal, but only briefly. I need to see the full seal array so I know the counter seal won't be written wrong." She reluctantly nodded, and tried her best to conjure up the hatred that fueled the loathsome mark. Black marking began to spread across her skin as the seal array fully extended, revealing everything to Naruto. Since this was one of the early curse marks, the seal array wasn't hidden like it was when Sasuke had it. Anko had to bite her lip from the pain, causing her to bleed a little. She also struggled to keep the power at bay, as to not take her mind over.

"I'm sorry Anko just a little longer," Naruto said with concern in his voice. He was trying his best to write down all of the seal he could see so he could study it without having to Anko through this again. After a few minutes, he was done.

"Okay Anko I'm done, you can stop now," the blonde said with sadness in his voice. He hated doing this to his now close friend, but it was the only way he could think of to help her.

"ARRRGHH! I CAN'T!" Anko screamed out. Getting worried now, Naruto pulled out a new sheet of sealing paper and began writing out kanji. In less than a minute of Anko's suffering, Naruto slapped his completed seal on top of the curse mark after prying Anko's hand of it, suppressing the tainted chakra.

The pain leaving her, she just panted from the experience, exhausted from having the chakra forcefully sealed away. Naruto just sighed in relief.

"Let's not…..ever….do that….again," Anko wheezed out between pants. Naruto nodded and rubbed the purple haired girls back. He suddenly started blushing though noticing that she was only in a black lacy bra, leaving hardly anything to the imagination. He looked away before grabbing her trench coat and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Oh so now you want to preserve my modesty," She said with a seductive smirk, albeit an extremely tired one.

"Oh whatever," is all Naruto could come up with as a retort. "Anyways I have all I need from you now as far as the seal goes. I'll let you know if I come up with a counter seal," Naruto said still slightly blushing with a small pout.

"Sure thing gaki. Maybe not today, but when I come back next week, I'll be kicking your ass again," she said with a sadistic smirk.

"When was the first time?" Naruto shot back, "As I recall you haven't won a single spar against me."

"Shut the fuck up gaki, I'll get you next time just watch," Anko said still a little out of breath.

"Oh I'm sure," Naruto said sarcastically. "You down for some dango? I kind of owe you for what I just put you through," Naruto said sheepishly.

"Damn right you do. I'm little too weak to walk right now so carry me. It's the least you can do, right?" Puppy-dog eyes no jutsu!? When did she learn that?! Despise the triumphant smirk that came afterward, Naruto couldn't resist the adorable face she had thrown at him.

"Fine, just put a shirt on first will you?" Naruto asked with a blush. Anko just grinned evilly.

"Oh I'm afraid I can't, I'm still too weak you see. Can you do it for me?" Anko asked the boy with false pleading eyes with a finger at the corner of her mouth.

'Damn her and tricks!' Naruto thought.

"No. Noooo way. You can make do with the coat!" Naruto said with a flushed face. Anko gave him a pout at his response.

"What, you don't like me? After all this time, here I thought you actually cared for me," she said dejectedly. Naruto snapped his head to her with wide eyes.

"Nonononono it's not like that! It's just- FUCK I don't know!" Naruto yelled out in alarm, trying to do everything he could to keep his friend from crying. Little did he know that Anko was laughing hysterically in her mind. Soon her facade dropped and she burst out laughing from Naruto's frantic pleaded with her for her not to cry or something. After a solid five minutes of her cackling away with one annoyed Naruto pouting with his arms crossed, she settled down.

"But seriously. Dango. Now."

Naruto just sighed. "Fine let's go. But I'm not carrying you, dattaboyo!"

Anko just chuckled as she stood up and put her shirt on, much to Naruto's chagrin, her having to reveal her bra to him once again. She just snickered and the two began walking out of the forest toward Anko's favorite dango shop. Losing her previous mirth, Anko glanced over at Naruto with a serious expression. Naruto caught this and decided to call it out.

"Anko is something wrong?"

"I-it's nothing gaki don't worry about," she said looking away. Naruto just poked her arm.

"Hey now come on. What's bothering you? I'm taking you to get your so called 'food of the gods'. You could at least tell me what's on your mind," Naruto prodded, trying to get his friend to tell him her troubles.

"It's just," she hesitated," I just wanted, to say thank you, for what you're doing. You had no obligation to help me, yet you did anyway. Thanks for that," Anko said with a slight blush, gripping her right arm in embarrassment. Huh. Embarrassment, from Anko. That's a new one. Naruto burned the memory in his mind, knowing he wouldn't be likely to see it again.

"No problem Anko. After all what are friends for? I'll always be there for you, dattaboyo!" Naruto said with a beaming and brilliant smile that was almost as bright as the sun to Anko. Anko quickly shook her head of her embarrassment and continued on.

"Whatever gaki. I guess I'll help you too if you fall on your ass," she said with a smirk. Naruto just kept his grin until it became a little smile. They walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way to the dango shop, before Naruto realized something.

'Shit! I hardly have any money right now! She's gonna clean me out!' Naruto's face paled. Anko saw this and shot him a look of confusion.

"What's up kid? Something wrong?"

"Oh nothing," was Naruto response, damn well knowing that it wasn't nothing.

* * *

 **Well there ya go. Filler before shit goes down. Hope you enjoyed! Till next time!**


	9. The Last Academy Day

**Okay, so I may have lied again. Sorry, it's becoming a bad habit. It's a short chapter, but the next chapter should be out fairly soon. Sorry for the long delay, but I've been dealing with personal issues as well as college, always fun. Anyway, hope you enjoy.**

 **Even after all this time, Naruto still, doesn't belong to me.**

* * *

"Kiba Inuzuka," Iruka called out. Kiba got out of his seat with a knowing smirk. The class had been performing various jutsu as well as taking a written exam all day. Today was the graduation exams.

Iruka stood at the front of the class expectantly. "Just like your classmates before you, you are to perform the clone jutsu. As you know, you need at least two fully functional clones to pass. You can begin whenever."

"Ha! Childs play. I got this in the bag!" Kiba exclaimed arrogantly. He walked over to the front of the class with Akamaru on his head as usual. He readied his stance and put his hands in the Ram sign.

"Clone jutsu!" And with four puffs of smoke, there stood four Kibas, all with smirks on their faces.

"Very good Kiba. You pass." Iruka said with a smile. Then with four more puffs of smoke, the clones dispelled.

"Heh, told you so. I bet I can make the most in the entire class." Naruto couldn't help but think that Sasuke's lost arrogance must of migrated to Kiba. The dog boy sat back down and propped his feet on his desk and put his hands behind his head. Iruka just sighed at the boy.

'Man I sure hope that kid grows up. His arrogance might get him killed on a mission one day,' Iruka thought solemnly.

"Alright, next up is Sasuke Uchiha. Please come to the front of the room," Iruka said with his trademark teacher smile.

Sasuke just huffed disinterestedly and got up to make his way over. Naruto shot him a smirk and just couldn't resist.

"Come on Sasuke-chan you can do it! Don't mess up and make puddles of goo!" Naruto yelled with a grin. Sasuke just gritted his teeth at the "fangirlish" remark. He just muttered 'whatever dobe' under his breath as he took his position. Naruto's remark however brought a wave of snickering from the other boys in the room as well as Iruka, and a wave of glares from the girls, aka 'fan club de Sasuke'. Sasuke just waited for the snickers to die down before he readied his stance. He, unlike Kiba, had a relaxed pose and pulled up one hand in a half ram seal. Without uttering the jutsu, ten puffs of smoke filled the room. There standing were ten Sasuke's.

"Great job Sasuke! You definitely pass with flying colors." Iruka said with a grin.

Sasuke just dispelled the clones and went back to his seat, all the while the 'fan club de Sasuke' were cheering loudly at the oh-so-talented Uchiha. Sasuke just sat down with a huff.

"Hey good work there Sasu-kun, for a minute there I didn't think you'd be able to pass," Naruto said with a devious smirk. Sasuke just shot the blonde a glare. He would remark on Naruto's lack of ability to do better, but Sasuke very well knew what Naruto was capable of, or at least what he showed him in their sparring sessions. He knew that Naruto could make shadow clones already, so regular clones would be a joke for him. Sasuke then turned his head with a "hn" to look out the window. So far, all the tests had been painfully simple for the Raven haired boy. He could only imagine what Naruto was going through.

"Next up is Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka said with a smile once again. Naruto smirked at this and decided he'd show off just a little before he intentionally, or rather unintentionally failed. Naruto had been thinking about this day for a while now. He wasn't sure whether or not he'd show off any or if he'd just wait until they were assigned teams. He decided against it for the most part, but this being the last test that he knew he was going to fail, the blonde changed his mind.

"Alright sensei," Naruto said exasperatedly while waving his hand in front of his face.

"Do your best Naruto," Hinata said almost inaudibly. Naruto caught it however and smiled.

"Thanks Hinata-chan." With that Hinata's face grew bright red and snapped her head down to stare at her lap.

Then, before anyone could blink or even think, Naruto was just gone from his seat. Iruka was confused at first, then widened his eyes in realization. He seemed to be the only one that caught on to, because the rest of the class were either not paying attention, or were confused but not interested enough to care.

"Let's get this over with sensei." Iruka shot forward and turned 180 degrees to see a Naruto leaned back against the chalkboard with his arms behind his head with a bored expression. Iruka's sudden movement caught the rest of the classes attention and just added more confusion to the confusion that was already present. The only one that didn't really notice was Hinata, her being too wrapped in her thoughts about her 'not-so-secret' crush. Mukuzi also noticed Iruka's movement, but had otherwise not been paying attention, his nose being in a few stacks of documents. Not paying it any mind, he returned to his papers until he noticed blonde and orange.

Iruka quickly relaxed his battle stance and tried to wipe the look of shock off his face the best he could.

"Erm, uh, yes, please continue when you're ready," Iruka said a bit shakily. With that Naruto walked to the position in front of the lectern.

Our favorite purpled haired girl that was sitting in the seat next to Naruto's looked up out of her daze and then couldn't help but silently cheer on her object of affection.

'At first I didn't know what happened, but now that I do I just can't believe it. Naruto just moved from his seat to directly behind me in a mere instant! Silently at that! I didn't even see him move! It's like he teleported or something! That kind of speed is absolutely unheard of by someone that young! Just what are you Naruto? Have you been hiding your true potential from everyone?' These were the racing thoughts of Iruka, having a mini freak out in his head.

"Alright here I go!" Naruto exclaimed. He squatted down and took the same stance Kiba did. After growling a bit in concentration, one puff of smoke appeared next to the blonde. After the smoke cleared, there was a very sickly looking Naruto laying on the floor with its tongue unfurled and swirls for eyes.

"Well, I guess that didn't as good as I thought it would," Naruto said with a chuckle, very well knowing that this would be the result. With the insane amount of chakra that he has, Naruto was surprised he even managed to get the clone to look like this. He was slightly worried that it might have exploded or something. With that thought, he suddenly got an idea for his shadow clones, but filed it away for later.

There was silence in the classroom for a few seconds, until the entire class, minus a few, started bursting out laughing at the failed attempt at one of the simplest jutsu. Naruto just chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Iruka, seeing all of this, just couldn't make sense of it. Here was a boy that just demonstrated Jonin level speed, if not greater, moments ago, and yet he couldn't produce a single clone. After about of minute of fast-paste contemplation, Iruka calmed down and just decided that the speed he witness, or rather didn't witness was either a fluke or just him simply not paying attention.

Iruka took a deep breath and then started to try to get the class to quiet down. Sasuke was up in his seat in disbelief. He knew Naruto was capable of making sealess shadow clones, yet he couldn't make a single clone? He was just as confused as Iruka had been.

"Wow Naruto! Nice clone you got there! If I ever need a footrest I know who to ask!" Kiba exclaimed while holding his sides from laughing.

"Yeah I guess I'm just not cut out for being a shinobi," Naruto said sarcastically, chuckling at the comment. His sarcasm went unnoticed however amongst the noise.

After a few minutes Iruka had had enough, and then used his Bighead no Jutsu, so scream to get all of his students to shut up. After this, Iruka just sighed.

"Okay Naruto, I'm sorry but you fail for the third time. Better luck next year," Iruka said dejectedly. He was really hoping that Naruto would graduate this year with the friends he had made in his class. But there was nothing he could do unfortunately.

Naruto "sighed in defeat" and headed for his seat. He plopped down with mock sadness, which Sasuke picked up on. Hinata not knowing what Sasuke did about Naruto's abilities, had a worried expression on her face.

"I-it's okay Naruto-kun. Maybe you'll do so w-well in the other areas that they'll l-let you graduate," Hinata said softly, cautiously looking up at her favorite blonde.

"Eh, don't worry about it Hinata-chan, I'll be a shinobi this time next week, just you watch," Naruto whispered confidently. Hinata looked back down at her lap with a smile.

'That's Naruto for you. He never gives up no matter what,' Hinata thought fondly.

As Iruka continued reading off names for students to perform the jutsu, Sasuke decided to find out what was up with his blonde rival.

Sasuke leaned over to Naruto to whisper. "Hey dobe, what's going on, I know you'd be able to pass this idiotic test. Why did you fail it on purpose?" Naruto just chuckled.

"Believe or not Sasuke, it wasn't on purpose. I have so much chakra, that making clones is nigh impossible for me. They require so little chakra, that producing even twenty functioning ones would be like taking a grain of sand out of the desert of Suna. That's why I can do shadow clones remember? They require so much chakra normally that it's more or less my equivalent as far as chakra reserves go," Naruto explained, being sure to keep his voice down so that only Sasuke could hear him. Sasuke nodded in understanding at this, but was still confused about something else.

"You could have made shadow clones then and everyone would of been none the wiser. Why did you want to fail?"

"Eh, I'll tell you later. I do have my reasons though. Don't worry, I'll be a certified shinobi by the end of the week," Naruto whispered with a smile. Sasuke smirked at this, trusting the blonde's judgement.

"Whatever dobe. Just make sure you do. I'll look bad if you don't end up a shinobi, with me training with you all the time," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah. Don't you worry that pretty little emo head of yours." Sasuke closed his eyes with a huff at the comment and waited for the rest of the students to finish.

"Alright that's everyone. Great work this year everyone. I'm very proud of all of you and all of your improvements you've made. Congratulations to those who passed, and good luck next year for those who didn't," Iruka said with his teacher smile. "You will get the test results by mail in a few days with instructions on what to do from then. Besides you Naruto, you're all dismissed."

"Catch ya later dobe. Come by and train with me sometime this week."

"Alright then ja-ne." Witnessing this exchange, Sakura and Ino just glared at the blonde as they exited the classroom.

"B-bye Naruto-kun. I hope things turn out well for you," Hinata said before leaving.

"Thanks Hinata. I'm sure everything will," Naruto said with a reassuring smile. Hinata blushed at his visage as she went to go back to her compound.

"Nice one there Naruto. I knew you'd fail again this year. You are dead last after," Kiba remarked with a laugh as he walked by the blonde. Naruto smirked and thought, 'just you wait dog breath.'

With that the classroom steadily began to empty until only Naruto, Iruka, and Mizuki remained, with the latter at his desk looking over documents and tests. Once the last student left, Naruto got up to walk over to Iruka's desk where his sensei had taken a seat.

"You wanted to see me Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes, I just wanted to double check something. When you went to demonstrate the clone jutsu, how'd you get behind me so fast?" Iruka asked with curiosity. He already wrote it off, but he had to make sure.

"I don't know, sensei, maybe you just weren't paying attention," Naruto responded disinterestedly. "Is that all?"

"Well, erm, yes, I suppose. I'll you see you back here in a month after breaks over then." Iruka said with a smile.

"I don't know sensei. I just might not be here," Naruto said with a knowing smirk as he walked out of the classroom.

"Well what does that mean?" Iruka asked himself, but just shrugged it off to start grading the tests that the students had taken that day.

Mizuki on the other hand, had been plotting something ever since Naruto failed the clone test.

'Yes, that'll do nicely. I'll trick him to getting the scroll of sealing for me. He's so pathetic and stupid, that demon brat is sure to fall for it,' Mizuki though deviously with a grin matching his thoughts. No longer attending to his assistant sensei duties, he began working out the logistics of his escape plan. 'Man I wonder what reward Lord Orochimaru will give me when he gets a hold of the scroll of sealing. Just the thought of it is making get all fired up!' he thought.

XXX

Naruto landed silently on the roof of a nearby building to wait for Mizuki and his so called 'offer'. He summoned his event journal, to see when the teme would be coming.

"Huh, well I guess I still have about an hour to kill. Say Kurama can I come and hang out with you until then?"

The fox just sighed. **"If you must."** She had given up on trying to make Naruto leave her alone and let her sleep peacefully. Whether she protested or not, he'd just come and annoy her anyway. Plus with what happened a few months ago, they had been spending more and more time together. You could say their bond had strengthened, but the proud fox would never say such a thing aloud.

*Flashback: Four months ago*

(Forest of Death: Naruto's training ground)

"Hey thanks for doing this Anko I really appreciate it," Naruto said with a smile.

"No prob gaki. It's the least I can do since you're trying so hard to get this fuck mark off me," Anko said with her trademark grin.

"Anyway could you explain what you're doing again and why you need my help, with maybe a little more detail?"

"Yeah sure thing. It's a precaution more than anything. I'm going to attempt to release the seal that binds the Kyuubi's chakra within me as I said before. Typically you'd need a certain 'key' to do this, which just happens to be currently at Mt. Miyoboku, the land of the toad sages. Right now I don't have a way to get there, so I kind of improvised. For the past few years, I've been working on a seal array that mimics the key. Since I haven't tried to release the full seal with it yet, I'm not sure if it will work. On top of that, I have to fight the Kyuubi for control of that chakra. If the Kyuubi wins, then it will be released. That's where you come in. If you see me start showing signs of releasing the Kyuubi, I want you to put these three seals on me and activate them as fast as you can. You get me so far?"

"Yeah I'm with you. Side note though, this is still fucking crazy. Anyway, continue."

"Alright. This first seal completely shuts down both the Kyuubi's chakra network, as well as mine, which in turn will rip me out of my mindscape. This has to be first. The second seal here, keeps me artificially alive until I can regain consciousness or my chakra network begins working again. The last one here is also a precaution, which can serve two purposes. One is if the 'seal key' I made doesn't work, then this will cancel it out before anything bad can happen. You'll be able to tell by my body suddenly reacting to something that isn't red, malicious chakra. The second purpose is if I lose the fight, it forcibly reseals the Kyuubi back in the seal by reactivating the seal matrix on my stomach here. The actual key for this seal can't reseal the Kyuubi, but this acts as a seal reversal. Hopefully it doesn't come to that because forcibly reverse sealing an eight tetragram seal that isn't meant to go backwards could potentially, ruin, my body. That one was a lot more theoretical so I'm not sure what the outcome will be besides the desired purpose. That's it as far as the seals go and why I asked you to help. I also want you to make sure the barrier seals I put up around this place hold. I'm pretty sure they will, but it's once again, just a precaution. Is that enough detail? Because I could go into the intricacies of the complex sealing matrices and how they function."

"NO." Anko stated firmly. Her head was already spinning from the influx of information she was receiving. She was by no means unintelligent, but this fuinjutsu went way over her head no matter how simple.

"Anyway, so I put these three seals on the seal on your stomach if I think the Kyuubi is about to escape, and this third one if your key thing doesn't work. That about cover it?"

"Yeah more or less." Anko swatted the back of the blonde's head.

"Then you should of just told me that! I don't give two shits about what they do as long as they work! Geez. Sometimes you're too smart for your own good," Anko said with crossed arms and an annoyed expression. Naruto had explained what he was going to do when he first asked her for help. She almost choked on her dongo in disbelief at the ridiculous notion. He had assured her that it would be okay, and that he'd be taking every precaution. Eventually she just accepted it and decided to trust the crazy kid.

"Hehehe sorry about that. I do tend to ramble when it comes to fuinjutsu," Naruto said sheepishly.

"Anyway are you ready?" Naruto asked suddenly serious. Anko, just as serious, nodded firmly.

"Alright then here I go." Naruto, in his typical meditative pose, closed his eyes and reached into his mindscape.

 **"So are you sure you're ready to do this? You can still wait until you meet Jiraiah to get the key from him,"** Kurama said with the smallest amount of worry in her voice. She didn't like the boy risking himself with seals the way he was about to do.

"Yeah I'm sure. Plus I get to pound on you again, which will be fun," Naruto said with a smirk.

 **"Pound on me will you? We'll just see about that. I never fall for the same trick twice,"** the fox said with her own smirk.

"Not only that, but I get to see dad again," Naruto said softly with a warm smile. Kurama just smiled at her vessel fondly.

"Man 'cus won't he be in for a surprise!" Naruto chuckled. "But anyway, time to see if my hard work paid off," the blonde said with a determined gleam in his eye.

Kurama watched the boy walk up to the iron bars and then float up to the seal.

"Well, first there's this." And with that, he ripped off the paper that had the kanji for 'seal' on it. Almost immediately afterward, Naruto felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. With a warm smile, Naruto almost couldn't contain his emotions.

"I've been looking forward to seeing you dad, ever since I came back," Naruto said with a lone tear streaming down his right cheek.

"You and me both son." Naruto turned around to face his deceased father, with another tear going down his left cheek.

"Heh, I bet you're wondering how I know you're my dad and why I'm unsealing Kurama," Naruto said wiping away his tears with his sleeve.

"Actually not at all," Minato said with a smile. "I've been watching you this whole time. Since my chakra was stored within you, I was able to see the memories you've been making. You can imagine how surprised and dumbfounded I was when a sudden influx of memories invaded your mind a few years ago," Minato said with a chuckle.

"Really? That makes things a lot easier then," Naruto said with a relieves sigh.

"By the way, I like what you've done to the place. Grassy fields over a bright sun. I wouldn't think our lovely fox over here would like such a setting," Minato said smiling once again. Kurama, who had begun to doze off while the pair talked, half-opened her eye and gave a slight growl. Naruto just chuckles at her antics.

"Well since we don't have to go over what we had to the last time, and now that our circumstances are quite a bit better than last time, can we just talk about your life since you know all about mine? Like some stuff about mom!" Naruto said excitedly. Minato once again chuckled at his son.

"Yeah sure thing. I think I have a few hours in here compared to the few minutes last time. Now where should I start?"

Over the next few hours, the two blondes talked about Minato's life, what had happened before Naruto's mind came back in time, times Minato spent with Kushina, and adventures that Minato had as a shinobi early on in his life.

Both were now just looking up at the artificial clouds with content smiles on their faces. "Well, Naruto, I'm so happy that we got to do this, and I'm so proud of who you've become, as well as what you've accomplished. Kami, like making a reverse eight tetragram sealing technique, that's just insanity. I would of never thought it possible, heh but leave it to the son of an Uzumaki."

"Yeah thanks for this dad. I think out of all the memories I've had in this life and previous, this is one of the best ones I've had."

"I'm glad Naruto." With that Minato began to light up and flake away. Both of them then stood up.

"I don't have much time left. One last thing that you already know though, I will always love you Naruto, and I'm so proud of you," Minato said with a radiant smile.

"Yeah, I love you too dad," Naruto said with tears in his eyes, before embracing his father as a last goodbye. Soon after the last of Minato's chakra body flaked away, leaving one very sad, happy, as well as content Naruto.

"You know Kurama you could of joined in if you wanted to. I'm sure you could of said something on some of the stuff we talked about," Naruto said turning back to the iron bars where the red ball of fur was laying.

 **"Eh. I thought I'd let you have that moment. It was an important to you after all,"** the fox said stretching out.

"Yeah but you're important to me too. I couldn't imagine having any more memories without you," Naruto said with his own radiant smile that was brighter than the artificial sun to the fox. Taken aback by the comment and not knowing how to handle it, the fox turned to lay down in the opposite direction.

 **"Anyway, unlock this thing and go see Kushina already,"** the fox said irritably, not irritably because of what Naruto said, but irritably because of her lack of knowledge on how to respond to what the blonde had just said.

"Sounds good to me." With that, Naruto activated the seal matrix on his hand, it traveling up his arm and extending to his chest. He once again floated up to the round seal, put his hand on it, and twisted it to the right. Suddenly, the iron bars dropped and phased through the ground.

"Hey it worked. Cool," Naruto said with a bit of relief. He was confident in his fuinjutsu abilities, but with such an obscure art as it is, it always paid to be careful.

"Naruto?" Naruto froze as the melodic sounding voice called his name out from behind him. Tears again started to form at the edges of Naruto's eyes. He turned around to see his beautiful mother standing there with a warm smile on her face.

"Mom."

* * *

 **Well, there it is. Not too impressive, but the story's moving along at least. Hope you enjoyed and once again sorry for the delay. Till next time.**

 **PS: I added an important note/edit at the end of chapter 1 regarding this fic and some of the feedback I've been getting. You don't have to read it, but it clarifies a few things, and it's not very long so... please read it? Anyway, off to class!**


	10. Familiar seals

**See, I told you it'd be out fairly soon. I wanted to finish up the flashback as soon as I could, so here it is! Hope you all enjoy it!**

 **Oh Naruto rights, where art thou? Certainly not bequeathed upon me!** (Lol I hate Shakespear)

* * *

"Mom." Unlike with his father, Naruto couldn't hold back the tears from flowing down his face. Standing there for a moment, he dashed over to his mother and embraced her in a tight hug, one that she quickly returned.

"Hey there socchi," Kushina said with such a warm voice so filled with love that Naruto's heart wrenched inside his chest.

"I missed you so much," Naruto sobbed into his mother's shoulder.

"As much as I love hearing you say that socchi, I don't remember meeting you after I was taken from you when you were a baby." Kushina was very confused when she was brought out of the seal. For starters, the huge fox that was being kept in the seal was laying down peacefully, lazily watching the scene unfold in front of her, not fighting to get out of her container what-so-ever. Not only that, but they were in the middle of a grassy plain with the sun shining brightly over them with a few drifting clouds. But the thing that confused her most was what her son had just said to her.

Naruto stepped back from the tight hug with a content smile on his face. "Well I guess you didn't get to see my memories like dad could. That was probably because your chakra was sealed inside of the first layer of the matrix, while dad's was on the outer layer, to prevent me from removing the seal. So I guess he had access to my memories due to a hole in the array." Naruto had put his finger on his chin in his thinking pose. However what he had said thoroughly surprised Kushina. She didn't even know the reason, yet what he had said made sense to her.

"Heh, to think that my socchi knows so much about fuinjutsu. Makes a mom proud datebane!" Kushina exclaimed with a grin, holding her fist out.

"Well, considering that I've undone the seal earlier than I did last time, and that you didn't have to use any to keep Kurama pinned down, you probably have at least a day in here right?"

"Hmm. I think that's about right."

"Awesome! Then we get to spend the whole day together! I have so much to tell you!" Naruto said excitedly. Kushina just smiled.

"I'm sure you do. But first I'd like to ask our fox friend over here a few things," Kushina said indicating said fox with her thumb.

"Well actually, what I'm going to tell you will probably answer any questions you may have, but I'm sure Kurama wouldn't mind answering anything that I don't. Will you?" Naruto asked the fox.

 **"Eh. I suppose. But ask them at the end so you're not bothering me the whole time,"** Kurama said, closing her eyes to go to sleep. Naruto chuckled at her antics then sat down on the soft grass. Kushina soon joined him. Naruto looked at his mom as she sat down with him.

"You're hair's as beautiful as ever, datteboyo," Naruto said with a smile. Kushina gave a small blush at her son's words.

"Only one other person has complimented my hair."

"Dad I know. But he sure is right," Naruto said with a smile. "Well where to start. I guess I could start towards the beginning of my first life. But I suppose I should explain that first. So it's hard to believe, but this is what happened…"

Naruto then went on to tell his mother about his final battle with Kaguya, his meeting with the Shinigami, the god sending his memories back in time, his time with Minato, his early life in the village, the friends he made, the missions he had gone on, how he changed the past with his actions in this life, his growing friendship with Kurama, his, hopefully, soon to be girlfriend Hinata, among other things.

The two chatted like this for several hours, just enjoying each other's company.

"Wow socchi. I never thought we'd get to spend time together like this. It's pretty awesome dattebane!" Kushina said with a grin.

"I definitely second that," Naruto said, returning her grin with one of his own.

"Hey mom since we still have quite a bit of time here, you think you could teach me some jutsu? Like those cool chakra chains!" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Well, I suppose I could. Since there isn't anyone else that can do it anymore, it'll be awesome to pass a jutsu down to the next generation dattebane! But that being said, it is rather difficult to learn, and the only reason I can do it is because I have special chakra. I'm not sure if you can learn it or not."

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure I can come up with something," Naruto said with his trademark grin, radiating confidence.

"Okay then let's get started." With a final grin, Kushina stood up, Naruto soon following. "But just so you know, demonstrating these techniques could reduce the time I have in here."

"Eh, it'll be worth it. Training and learning stuff from my mom, I couldn't ask for a better way to spend my time." Kushina smiled warmly at this while Naruto just smiled away.

"Alright, so my 'chakra chains' as you called them, are actually called 'adamantine sealing chains', combining the use of pure chakra manipulation with fuinjutsu. You're already familiar with the first step, as you mastered your father's Rasengan, perfecting it with your added wind element. And as far as what I've seen and heard from you, you're already a master in fuinjutsu, just lacking in a few areas because of being mostly self-taught. So all you really have to learn is how to integrate the two, this is assuming your chakra can produce them." Kushina spoke in an authoritative, lecturing tone that had completely captured Naruto's attention, him hanging off of her every word.

After her short explanation, the red head materialized a single chain from her upper back and curled it over her head in front of her.

"It's purple now, but that's just because it's just a pure chakra manifestation. If you add fuinjutsu," Kushina trailed off, slightly focusing her efforts, while the chain began to glow gold. "This is the result, a sealing technique capable of neutralizing any chakra, including fur ball over there," Kushina said indicating Kurama with her thumb. The fox just growled softly in annoyance at the nickname that Naruto also had given her.

"That's so cool!" Naruto shouted, stars in his eyes. "I've got to learn this!"

"Well I'm glad you're so enthusiastic, but that's really all I can tell you about it. I had to learn this on my own as well because it's not something you can really teach, just like your Rassenshuriken. All I can do is tell you how it works and what it does, not how to do it. But you're my son so I know you can do it dattebane!"

"You better believe I can!" Naruto said, shoving his thumb to his chest with a grin. "So is there anything else? Like maybe some sealing techniques? You did say I was lacking in a few areas."

"I don't see why not. You think we could get some ink and sealing paper?"

"Leave it to me!" Naruto then went on to concentrate briefly, materializing the required items on the ground in front of him. "Pretty nice being in control of my own mind." Kushina giggled at her son, then sat down next to the new teaching materials.

"Okay, but first, evaluation!" Kushina yelled. Naruto face faulted at this.

"Come on mom! Can't you just show me what you know?" Naruto asked with a pout, wiping some dirt he acquired on his forehead from when his face abruptly met the ground.

"Oh suck it up. I can teach you anything if I don't know the full extent of your abilities." Naruto sighed at this as he sat down across from the redhead.

"Fine, let's get this over with."

Over the next few hours, Kushina gathered the full extent of what Naruto knew about fuinjutsu, and filled in the gaps as well as teach him some of the secret Uzumaki fuitjustu. Overall, Naruto came out of the experience knowing much more than he did before. His mom was incredible!

"Wow. I knew fuinjutsu was abstract and expansive, but that was just ridiculous. I had no idea you could apply fuinjutsu to offensive attacks using storing arrays on your body or clothes." Naruto had enjoyed learning since the Shinigami saw it fit to open his mind, so today had begun to turn out as the best day he'd ever had. He got to see his mom and dad, as well as learn some kickass jutsu.

"Well since I don't have much time, that's about all can teach you. Apply it well, and your creativity should take your fuinjutsu to new heights dattebane!" Kushina happily remarked. The pace that Naruto had picked up on what she had gone over was astounding. She had never seen such a prodigy in fuinjutsu. He could easily surpass everyone in Uzumaki clan history!

"Thank you mom, for everything. Not just for this time we've spent together, but for what you did for me when I was born, as well as being the best mom I could ask for." With the love pulsing from his words and his warm smile, Kushina couldn't help but shed a few tears. Smiling warmly at her son, she leaned over and embraced him in a hug that had all the love that she could pour into it.

"I'm so proud of you socchi. You've grown up to be a great man. I love you so very much. Never forget that." Naruto couldn't contain his tears either, as he had returned his mother's hug.

"I always love you mom, in this life and the next." Kushina chuckled at his clever remark.

"I sure hope you don't have to go back and do everything a third time." It was Naruto's turn to chuckle at his mother's words.

Pulling away, the two left the embrace, staring fondly into each other's eyes. "I don't have much time socchi." As she said this, she began to glow yellow. She then turned around to face the fox that had been resting a short distance away.

"You take care of my socchi now. Don't let him get into too much trouble since I won't be there to scold him." Kurama had lifted her head up slightly at being addressed by her previous container, giving her a simple nod.

Smiling at the fox, she turned back around to face the blonde, who was still teary eyed. "You be good now socchi, take good care of everyone, especially Hinata and Anko," Kushina said with a wink. Naruto blushed slightly at his mother's insinuation, but then smiled warmly as he watched the last of her chakra fade from existence.

Starring at the ground with a content smile for a few minutes, thinking over the grand experiences he just went though, he looked up at the now freed biju.

"Alright, I guess we should get to it then huh," Naruto said to the now fully awake fox, him putting on a determined expression.

Standing up, the fox faced the comparatively small human in front of her. **"I'm not going to go easy on you. I'll be going all out. You better win too, 'cus if you don't I won't hesitate to escape your puny body,"** Kurama growled out with a smirk.

"Heh, I wouldn't expect anything less. Let's go wild Kurama."

As if a switched flipped, Naruto's eyes suddenly became orange with horizontal bars for pupils, chakra erupting from his body.

"I don't have any resistance seals in here, and I haven't tried going all out in sage mode yet, so this'll be interesting," Naruto said smirking.

 **"Give me a good fight Ningen!"** Kurama shouted out at the boy in front of her, rearing to blast towards him.

"Ask and you shall receive." Naruto's form then blurred out of existence, appearing above the fox. Caught off guard by the speed Naruto had, barely keeping track of him, Kurama jumped back, spinning to whip the blonde with one of her nine tails. Once again blurring out of existence, Naruto dodged the incoming tail, appearing to the right of Kurama. Focused on the incredible speed Naruto was moving at, Kurama was almost too late to notice three other Naruto's on the opposite side of her, her only warning being the simultaneous shouting of all three of them.

"Sage Art: Massive Rasengan Barrage!"

Barely blocking the three massive orbs of rotating chakra with three of her tails dedicated to each, her attention was drawn away from the original Naruto. Instantly realizing her mistake, she jerked her her around to catch sight of the speedy Naruto, only to get a face-full of wind chakra.

'He didn't even call it out, and he moved so quickly it took almost an instant of me being distracted. Not only that, his clones dispelled as soon as their attack landed on my tails to form the Rassenshuriken. Just how fast is he!?' Were the thoughts Kurama had racing through her mind as the wind shuriken blasted her face back with the force of a meteor. Soon after landing, the shuriken shaped orb expanded, exploding in a white dome of millions of wind blades. Kurama was forced into the ground by the sudden expansion as well as on her back from the initial impact. Shortly after, Kurama felt the rest of her body being pounded by what seemed like hundreds of Rasengans. Getting aggravated that Naruto was so easily getting the best of her, the fox erupted in rage, sending a wave a chakra out, dispelling Naruto's sage clones that were so relentlessly barraging her as well as quelling the typhoon of wind blades assaulting her face.

Flipping over and jumping back in an incredible show of speed for a creature of her size, she opened her mouth and let out a deafening roar, sending out a shockwave of energy from the sound alone.

Naruto had thought that the fight had been going too well for him, and it was no surprise that Kurama countered his attack with such ease. Being blasted back by the shockwave caused by the fox's roar, Naruto landed in a three point position, skidding back several meters. When he looked up at his opponent, he couldn't help but grin.

"So she's gettin' serious huh. And here I thought I could do this before she could let one off." Staring at the growing orb above the fox's mouth, Naruto was quickly trying to think of a way to counter her attack.

'This Bijudama is one of my largest. It should knock that brat down a peg,' Kurama thought to herself as the blue and red chakra continued to gather into the center of the purple sphere. Rapidly growing to the size of a small mountain, Kurama then almost immediately compressed it into the size of a small boulder, clamped her jowls on it, and erupted a beam of destruction from her mouth.

Watching the Bijudama grow, Naruto had to think to himself that it was one of the largest he'd ever seen Kurama make on her own, and wasn't he surprised when she compressed it in a matter of seconds. Soon realizing his impending doom, Naruto paled as Kurama clamped down on the compressed orb.

With all of his might, Naruto jumped to his right, shattering the ground beneath him, causing a large crater, to avoid the powerful attack. When the orange beam of pure destruction erupted from the fox's mouth, it expanded to cover a mile radius, making it impossible for Naruto to dodge. Blasting into Naruto full force, the beam ripped into him, sending him flying.

When the smoke cleared, Kurama was huffing from the attack she just launched. It had taken almost all of her chakra to form such a wide scale attack. Looking at the carnage she had caused, she could see nothing but a huge rounded crater expanding mile in either directions and as far as her eye could see.

 **'Huh, may of overdid it a little. There's no way he's still conscious from that. Now where is he? Since he lost I might as well take his chakra and escape.'** At that thought Kurama's mind suddenly halted. **'Wait that would kill him. With Madara still about I suppose that'd be a bad idea. But what is this other feeling? Like something inside me twisting in pain at the thought of this Ningen dying. Why am I feeling this way? What is this?!'**

Distracted by her newfound emotions, Kurama suddenly felt her chakra being ripped away from her from one of her tails. She quickly spun around only to widen her eyes in shock, immediately forgetting her previous internal battle.

"Sealing Art: Eight Point Restraint!"

Then like a switch, she suddenly couldn't move. Observing the scene before her, her shock only grew. There stood nine Narutos in a half circle, eight of them with their hands on the ground holding the sealing formation, and one in the center pulling out her chakra.

"What did you think you got me in that attack? I'll admit is was impressive, but I just so happened to have a clone behind you for a substitution. Glad I did too. That attack would of probably vaporized me!" Naruto shouted with a strained grin. Even though the Kyuubi was physically restrained, she was still fighting hard to keep her chakra.

"But thanks to, that, attack, that makes, doing this, a little, easier!" Naruto said in-between grunts of exertion. Like a tug of war, the two fought for the right to the other's chakra.

 **'I can't keep, going, like this. I used too much, chakra,'** Kurama stressfully thought, straining against her blonde opponent.

Sweat was pouring down all of the clones' faces that were trying their damnedest to hold up the restraint seal. It was difficult to hold down a giant fox with such power for very long with just an improvised seal.

The two kept struggling to pull the other's chakra out, when finally Naruto managed to pull some of it inside of him. Letting go of the red chakra, Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief, his clones dispelling before his lungs emptied the last remnants of air from them. He fell back on his rear panting. Kurama didn't look much better. She had collapsed on the ground as well, panting just as heavily.

"I guess, I win."

 **"Yeah, I suppose, you do. I never, thought, you'd be, that fast, in sage mode,"** Kurama uttered between pants.

"Yeah, it was kind of, a surprise, to me too." While sitting down, Naruto leaned back on his hands, and tossed his head back completely fatigued.

The two sat there for a few minutes catching their breath while occasionally glancing at each other.

"Well since I'm the victor, I guess that means we get to be partners again doesn't it," Naruto stated with a tired smile. Kurama smirked at him.

 **"I guess so. I haven't used that much chakra since our battle with the Juubi** (ten tails) **."**

"Yeah that was one crazy fight. Even though I plan on preventing that battle, I hope we can still fight alongside Octo-pops again."

 **"Of course you do. I don't know how you stand the incessant 'rapping', as you call it, that the Eight tail's jinjuriki does."**

"Eh, it's not so bad once you get used to it. After a while I just thought it was funny," Naruto said, chuckling at the memory of some of Bee's more idiotic rhymes.

"But man, having the seal opened sure is a great feeling though. I can spend all the time I want with you now! And I won't have a war to keep me distracted," Naruto beamed. Kurama just huffed at this, showing no other outward reaction. But on the inside of her was a different story. Instead of the painful feeling she felt before, now she was experiencing warmth, a kind she never felt before. Panicking internally at the foreign feeling, she just closed her eyes and curled up in her tails to take a nap so she wouldn't reveal anything to the blonde sitting in front of her.

 **"Whatever Ningen. Just leave for now. I need to rest a recover my chakra. Plus, I'm sure that Anko is getting impatient."**

Naruto paled at this. "Shit! I totally forgot! I hope she isn't too mad for having to wait all night! See ya Kurama! I'll come back later!" Naruto worriedly yelled, quickly fading back out of his mindscape.

 **"Kami, what am I going to do with him. Making me feel all these strange things. I used to be the aspect of hatred! Yet, now…."** Quickly shaking her head of her thoughts, the fox curled up once again to take her much-needed nap. **'This thinking is pointless. I'm just going to forget about it and sleep.'** The fox thought to herself as she drifted off.

(Back outside in Naruto's training ground)

Naruto opened is eyes to see a familiar glow of orange surrounding him. He soon noticed a face dangerously close to his and flinched back from the intrusion of personal space. Anko frowned at this, but returned to her mesmerized look soon after.

"This is pretty fucking cool gaki! Is that the Kyuubi's chakra?" Anko asked, entranced by the golden chakra surrounding Naruto.

"Yeah, it is," Naruto said sheepishly, but quickly recovering. "Hey why are you so close to me! Couldn't you see it from where you were before!"

"So I wanted a closer look sue me," Anko said with a shrug. Naruto sighed and deactivated his 'new' chakra form. He received a pout from Anko almost immediately.

"Anyway what took so long?! I've been sitting here waiting for like, six hours! You owe me so much dango for this." Anko said with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll treat you some other time. You cleared me out just last week!" Naruto complained.

"Fine then. But you still owe me and I never forget a dango debt!" Anko exclaimed, receiving a tired sigh from her blonde friend.

"Sorry for the wait. Thank you so much for helping me out too. I wouldn't trust anyone else to do it but you," Naruto said with a warm smile, bringing a light shade of pink to Anko's cheeks.

"Oh shut it. Save the mushy crap for someone who cares." Naruto chuckled her hard-headed nature. In reality though, Anko felt extremely happy that someone cared about her so much and was willing to trust her with so much.

"I'm glad you didn't have to use the seals though. Everything turned about pretty well. Great actually. Imma head home and rest though. You wouldn't believe how tired you get after taking on the strongest Biju. You gonna go with me?" Naruto asked the purple haired woman.

Still recovering from her blush from earlier, she nodded and stood up next to Naruto.

"I can only imagine. Yeah let's go," Anko said with a smile.

After that the two made their way out of Training Ground 44 and back to Naruto's apartment.

 ***End Flashback***

Sitting there thinking back on that day had Naruto smiling. He almost didn't notice a quickly approaching Mizuki. Shaking his head of his thoughts, he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh sorry Kurama! I was so wrapped up in reminiscing I totally forgot to come visit!"

' **Don't worry about it so much. It's not like I care. I got to get another hour of sleep in without you pestering me.'** The fox however was a little disappointed that she didn't get to see the blonde ball of energy for reasons beyond her understanding. Not that Naruto would ever know.

Mizuki soon landed next to Naruto on the rooftop he had been sitting on. "Hey there Naruto! I heard about the exam. Sorry that you couldn't pass. Iruka just doesn't understand real talent when he sees it," Mizuki tried to say with sadness. Naruto knowing his ploy, saw right through it though. But he had to play along if he wanted to do this right. He put on the best depressed act he could.

"Yeah, I really wanted to graduate this year too. It's just that stupid clone jutsu. I don't understand why I can't do it!" Naruto yelled out to the sky.

'Maybe because you're a worthless demon brat that's better off dead,' Mizuki thought.

"Yeah, but maybe you could still pass the secret graduation exam. I'm sure Iruka told you about it."

"Secret graduation exam?"  
Mizuki feigned a look of shock. "He didn't tell you?!" Naruto just shook his head and looked at Mizuki expectantly.

"Man he wants you to fail so bad that he didn't even tell you that. Well, because I'm nice, I'll let you in on it," Mizuki whispered over at Naruto, his hand to the side of his mouth as if to prevent anyone from hearing. Naruto did his best at acting exciting, which was surprisingly difficult.

"Really?! You'd do that? Please tell me Mizuki-sensei pleeeeaaase!"

"Alright calm down now I'll tell you. All you got to do is learn a super hard jutsu from the scroll of sealing. It's in the Hokage's office in his safe. But because this is a secret graduation exam, no one can know that you're doing it until you show what you've learned to Iruka. Got it?"

"Yeah I got it! I learn all the jutsu that scroll of whatever has! Believe it!" Naruto inwardly cringed at his childish outburst. Did he really sound like that back when he was a kid?

"Good. Once you get it, the secret training location is just outside Kohona in the Northwest forest. I'll place a marker for you so you know you're in the right place," Mizuki said with a fake smile.

"Awesome I can't wait! I'm going to graduate! I'm going to graduate!" Naruto singsonged.

"Well then I'll leave you to it then. See ya later Naruto!" Mizuki then jumped down from the rooftop and made his way to make the necessary preparations.

'I can't believe that idiot bought that! Man that was so much easier than I thought! I'll have the demon brat do the dirty work, take the scroll from him, and do everyone a favor and off him!' he thought as he made his way towards his destination.

Naruto just stood on the roof and sighed. "Geez that was easier than I thought, though faking excitement is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Well, better go let the old man know what's up." With that, Naruto shunshin'd towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

 **Okay so I don't really know how the write 'shunshin' in past tense, so imma just go with that. Also to clarify, Kurama is not experiencing the romantic kind of love for Naruto, nor will Naruto even remotely pursue a relationship with her. She is experiencing however the love someone has through friends and family. Her being a chakra construct of hatred, it's a new thing for her. It's just another 'Naruto doing the impossible' that he was known for in the series. Anyway with that cleared up, I hope you enjoyed reading! Drop a review to tell me what ya think or if you have ideas where the story should go! (That's gettin' old isn't it.) Till next time!**


	11. Altered timelines

**Woo chapter 11! Man the amount of followers have really taken off since I posted chapter 10. Just want to say thank you for reading! It means a lot! Also a special thanks to those who reviewed! Your words are what keep me going and continually inspire me to write more! Anyway with the mushy crap out of the way, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

(read with Australian accent -) **"Look here! As you can see, this is the RassenReaper out here in his natural habitat, as he searches for those Naruto rights that he will never have! He's an ugly little beast ain't he? Quite the sad story of nature."** (RIP Steve Irwin)

* * *

Appearing in the Hokage's office with a shunshin, Naruto had his characteristic grin on and waved to the grizzled old man in front of him. His entrance however, received its fair share of surprises from the ANBU currently in the room.

'What the fuck? This kid can use shunshin? Isn't he still an academy student? And how the hell did he get past us in the first place!?' Cat furiously thought. Her placed on the ceiling just above the window where Naruto entered, she was caught off guard when she only noticed the orange eyesore when he first appeared in front of the Hokage.

The one not surprised by the sudden appearance, however, was the old man himself, who just glanced at Naruto over a document he was reading, bringing him to let out a sigh.

"What is it now Naruto? And do you have to scare my guards like that? One's likely to try and detain you next time," Hiruzen said tiredly. It had been a long week for him.

Naruto had to snicker at the old man's wording, him saying 'try' instead of 'will'. It was more or less accurate at this point.

"Oh I thought I just came by to ask if I could borrow the scroll of sealing. I'll bring it back sometime tonight. Actually could you raise some alarms? I need to make it look believable," Naruto said with his ever-present smile. This had the ANBU in the room completely shocked, that this kid had the audacity to ask such a thing.

"I suppose." Setting his document that he was looking over down, Hiruzen got up and went over to the save hidden behind a map of the shinobi nations. While he was walking over to it, the old man had three pairs of wide eyes of utter shock staring at him.

Moving the painting, he inputted the combination and pulled out the one and only scroll of sealing.

"May I ask why you need this?" Hiruzen said handing the scroll to the blonde.

"Oh you know. Traitors to deal with, people to fool, the usual," Naruto said with a grin. Sighing at the boys words, Hiruzen just made his way back to his desk and took a seat.

"And when did you steal this exactly?"

"Umm, I'd say about two hours from now."

"Very well. Was there anything else?"

"Actually yes. As this pertains to village security, you know the drill." Growing a curious face, Hiruzen waved his baffled ANBU out of the room.

"You know you could of led off with this so I didn't have my ANBU asking so many questions later," the old man said irritably.

"Yeah but that wouldn't be nearly as fun now would it," Naruto said with a chuckle.

"So the prankster lives on. Now what is it you need to show me?" the old man asked, curiosity returning.

"Oh, just this." In a sudden eruption of gold, Naruto blazed forth his linked Kyuubi chakra cloak. Upon seeing this, Hiruzen nearly fell out of his chair. Dazzled and flabbergasted by the sudden power influx coming from the boy in front of him, Hiruzen couldn't help but let his jaw almost hit the floor. In his very un-Hokage like state of surprise, Naruto just stood there snickering at the reaction.

"I-is that…"

"Yup. This is the mastered Kyuubi chakra cloak. One indication is that you don't sense any malice or foreboding you usually would."

"In all my years, I've never seen such a thing.." Hiruzen said with metaphorical stars in his eyes. He had never felt such power mixed in with such an overwhelming sense of peace. It was unreal.

Being slightly delayed on their reentrance, the three ANBU that had been on guard blasted into the room, surrounding Naruto in what they thought was 'instantly'. They would have came sooner because of the sudden burst of chakra, but the serenity that they felt along with it made them hesitate. Upon realizing what they were seeing, all three ANBU's eyes grew wide in shock for the third time within five minutes.

"Hey guys, would you mind not pointing those swords at me?" Naruto asked with a sheepish grin.

Regaining some of his composure, Hiruzen straightened himself in his chair. "Lower your weapons. He is no threat." Complying with the command of the Hokage, the three ANBU did just that, taking a few steps back from the glowing person, still in disbelief from what they were seeing.

"Naruto you could have waited until I put my barrier seals up," said a very disgruntled Hiruzen.

"I could of, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be able to handle it. After all, I'm not the one who made them," said a still smiling Naruto.

"Yes, well, can you stop doing that? You're likely to draw every shinobi in the Land of Fire here, which isn't something I want to have to explain, or deal with the amount of paperwork it'd cause me." Hiruzen wasn't expecting this. He knew Naruto had control over the Kyuubi's chakra in his past life, but he had no idea it would be this soon, and the power to be felt was something else entirely.

"Yeah sure." Just as fast as he activated it, the golden chakra cloak vanished, defusing the almost vibrating air with it. Once he did deactivate it, the ANBU noticeably relaxed, easing some of the tension they had. Naruto put on a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to startle you guys. I thought it'd be kind of funny to mess with all the shinobi in the village in one fell swoop."

"And mess you did. They're all going to be asking me what was going on," Hiruzen stated, rubbing his temples as if to prepare for the future headache he know he would get.

"Well considering I'm still technically a village secret, that's not really so secret, you could just write all of them off," Naruto tried to advise, bringing Hiruzen to nod his head slightly.

"Yes well anyway, with that out of the way, was there anything else Naruto? Or did you have something else to cause me more work?" the old man said sarcastically.

"Oh, well there is the part where I can use sage mode, the same kind Ero-sennin uses," Naruto said with a finger to his chin. No longer surprised by the abilities of the blonde, Hiruzen just let out a sigh.

"Very well. Anything else?"

"Nope! That's all for now," Naruto said with a bright grin.

"You're dismissed then. I shall raise the alarms regarding the object in your hand in a few hours."

Giving a nod, Naruto took out a storage scroll and sealed the larger scroll into it. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at this.

"Before you go, just how skilled are you in fuinjutsu? I'm assuming you made that scroll yourself," Hiruzen said, indicating the small scroll in Naruto's hand with a tilt of his head.

"Oh I've been around master level for about a year now. Anyway, I'll see you later Jiji!" With that, Naruto left the office in the same way he arrived.

Folding his hands in front of his face, the grizzled old man let out a long, tired sigh. "That boy is going to cause me so much work."

Still baffled by what just occurred, the three ANBU looked at their leader with still shocked faces, hidden behind their masks.

"Um, Hokage-sama, if I may ask, what just happened?" the ANBU with the cat shaped mask asked.

"Village secret, don't worry about it." This brought a sweat drop to all three of them, causing all of them to think simultaneously, 'He's writing us off isn't he'.

"You may return to your posts, and considering that was a village secret, you will not so much as speak a word of what just transpired. Understood?" Hiruzen said, shooting a glare towards the ANBU.

Straightening up with a salute, all three of them replied, "Yes sir."

"Good."

* * *

(Meanwhile: Hyuuga compound)

Hinata had been doing some light training by herself, thinking some things over. Running through the motions of the kata that were now ingrained in her mind, her thoughts were far away from what she was doing. In fact, they were focused on a certain blonde. She was really worried about Naruto. She wanted him to pass the graduation exam so they could be genin together and hopefully be on the same team. She was sad to see him fail for what would make the third time, and tried to encourage him. She felt like her words fell on deaf ears though, mainly because she had told the blonde so timidly and softly. She was really starting to hate not being able to talk to the object of her affection freely, always struggling to say more than three words to him. His sudden friendship that he made with her two years ago certainly helped in giving her confidence, especially now, since he's made an active effort to talk to her whenever he saw her.

She had been happier beyond belief. But the courage she lacked to pursue anything further was really staring to grind on her.

'I have to get stronger. I have to have courage for him!' Hinata thought, diving into her current training session with renewed spirit, until she was ripped from her concentration when a sudden, overwhelming burst of chakra made her freeze. Trembling slightly at the power she felt, she gasped suddenly.

"Naruto," the lavender eyed girl whispered in shock. She'd recognized his chakra anywhere, no matter how powerful or insignificant. She had spent the last few years memorizing it. Turning her head towards the source, she activated her Byuakugan, only to yelp in pain, covering her eyes with hands, causing her to drop to her knees. With her improved seeing prowess, she had been blinded by the ridiculous aura of chakra that was coming from the Hokage tower.

After rubbing her eyes, she looked back up with her regular eyes in awe.

"Naruto, what happened to you," she once again whispered.

After sitting there for a few minutes, unable to get rid of the awe from feeling such immense chakra, a tear fell from her eye. Surprised by this, she flinched back, only to realize the cause. Naruto's chakra wasn't only powerful, it was the most serene and beautiful thing she had ever felt. And just like it had appeared, the feeling disappeared like a drop of a hat, causing the Hyuuga heir to release a breath she didn't know she was holding.

After a few minutes of blank thought, Hinata stood up suddenly, eyes filled with determination.

"Naruto," she whispered once again. She then sped off to find the blonde. Upon leaving the compound in such a hurry, she garnered a few strange looks from the guarding branch family Hyuuga, although, they didn't pay her much mind, due to them still reeling from the chakra they had just experienced. After a few moments went by, one of them asked the other, "What the hell was that?"

"I, I'm not sure. Hey wait did Hinata-sama just pass us?"

"Uh, maybe?"

After a moment of thought, both of them gave a shrug, and returned to their posts.

* * *

(Forest Northeast of Konoha)

Landing silently, Naruto looked around. "This is it. Man this brings back some memories." Naruto went on ahead to Mizuki's designated meeting spot after leaving the Hokage tower and wait for the snake to show up. He didn't really have anything better to do. There wasn't much more he could learn on his own at this point, him being caught up with his previous self and then some. On his way to the meeting spot, Naruto had been thinking about what he should do now to further his training. He would, of course, keep the resistance seals on the max. He would probably have to improve them to have an even greater weight once level ten got too easy, which he was well on his way to accomplishing.

Naruto jumped up on a nearby tree and sat down on a branch. Giving a sigh, he swung his legs over to lie on the branch, his back against the trunk, in an effort to get more comfortable.

"I've pretty much learned all there is to know that the library had, as well as all my previous jutsu. Right now, the only things I can really train with are Mom's chakra chains and Anko's cursed seal." Frowning at his words, this brought up another topic that was annoying him to no end. He had hit a dead end in finding a way to remove her cursed seal. The only way he'd be able to find out more is if he interrogated Orochimaru himself or raided one of his dozens of hideouts for any information regarding it. He would just have to wait until the Chunin exams to 'ask' him about it.

Holding out his right hand, Naruto tried to conjure a chakra chain. Holding his concentration on the task for about five minutes with no results, he exhaled sharply, dropping his hand, and leaning his head back against the trunk of the tree.

"This will definitely take some time. How in the hell do you form solid chakra without any movement?" Naruto said exasperatedly. This jutsu was nothing like his Rasengan. At least with that you had rapidly moving chakra that you could contain, which made it easier to manifest. Forming solid stagnant chakra just seemed impossible to the blonde. But he had seen his mother do it, so he would do it too, no matter how long it took. But right now he had to focus on other, more important things.

He had to come up with a game plan once Mizuki got here. Better yet, when Iruka got here. Last time he had trained himself ragged learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu. With not so much as a ruffle on his clothes, Iruka would have a harder time believing that he'd been training hard to learn it. Eh, he'll just have to be satisfied with seeing the clones in action.

Sighing once again, Naruto looked up at the sky, watching as the colors of the sunset began filling it.

"Maybe Jiji will let me get into the Jonin section or even ANBU section of the Jutsu vault. We both know I could easily be considered one, if not even stronger than that. I'll have to ask him about it," Naruto muttered to himself closing his eyes, causing him to unintentionally drift off to sleep.

* * *

(Streets of Konoha)

Iruka was tired. He had spent most of the day grading and reviewing his student's exams, as well as sending letters out to the ones who would be attending the graduation ceremony. It was past sunset now so the only light to be offered were the street lights and the almost full moon above.

Iruka also had a hard time getting a certain knucklehead blonde out of his head. Reviewing all of Naruto's tests, he knew that the boy couldn't be allowed to pass. Even though he did perfectly in the substitution and henge jutsu, he completely failed the clone jutsu. Thinking back on the blondes henge demonstration brought a slight nosebleed to Iruka. Instead of transforming into the Hokage like he was asked, he instead did his trademark 'Sexy Jutsu', which embarrassingly caused Iruka to almost faint.

Walking along the street, looking up at the sky with a distant expression, Iruka didn't notice the dirty looks he was getting from the passerbys upon seeing his nosebleed. Eventually noticing his mistake from a particular loud scoff from a passing woman, Iruka quickly shook his head of the day's earlier episode, wiping his nose in the process.

'Damn that kid. Causing me trouble even when I'm not teaching class,' Iruka thought. Thinking again about Naruto's tests, the blonde also failed on the written test. Even though it was only on point off from passing, it still wasn't passing.

Thinking about it all caused Iruka to sigh despondently. He then thought back to Naruto's clone Jutsu presentation, the way he had seemingly appeared behind him. The show of speed that that would require would be unfathomable for an academy student. He had already written it off as him not paying attention, but it still caused Iruka to think.

Tearing him from his thoughts, Iruka heard the sound of the shinobi alarm begin going off. Becoming alert, Iruka looked around for anything out of the ordinary, then sped off towards the Hokage tower. Arriving on the roof after only a few minutes of running, Iruka came to see the Hokage standing in front of around fifteen different Jonin and Chunin.

Having an ever calm visage, the Hokage waited there patiently with his eyes closed for more of his shinobi to show up. After about ten more minutes, around half of the Jonin and Chunin that were currently in the village were present. The Hokage chose that time to speak up.

"Listen well. Naruto Uzumaki has stolen the Scroll of Sealing, the very scroll that contains all of our village secrets and forbidden jutsu. You are to retrieve this at all costs. You all know very well what would happen should that scroll end up in the wrong hands. Make sure you tell your fellow shinobi yet to arrive that they are to search for the boy as well. I'll let the Jonin commander handle who searches where. Dismissed!" Upon his last word, all the shinobi on the roof sped off, some in a shunshin, and others simply jumping off to the ground, all but one.

"Hokage-sama are you sure Naruto is the one that stole it? There's no way he'd do something so reckless, let alone have the ability!" said a panicking Iruka.

"Yes Iruka I'm sure. Since most of the shinobi are going to be searching the village, maybe you should look out in the forests in the North, which is probably where Naruto would go if he was planning on escaping," Hiruzen said, leveling a stare at a still stunned Iruka.

After a moments hesitation, Iruka just nodded and responded, "Yes sir." With that, he sped off towards the direction the Hokage mentioned.

'Naruto just what have you done! You fail the exams and steal the scroll of sealing as a result!?' Iruka frantically thought to himself while speeding across the rooftops. After running for a few minutes, Iruka reached the Northern forest, trying to feel out where Naruto was by trying to pick up on his chakra. After decided to head East, Iruka didn't have to travel for very long to find the very cause of the alarms sitting on the ground leaning against the large scroll.

"Naruto! Just what do you think you're doing! How could you steal the Scroll of Sealing! Do you understand the gravity of the situation you're in!? This is a crime punishable by death!" Iruka yelled at the boy.

Naruto looked up at his sensei with a grin. "Sensei I did it! I learned a jutsu in this scroll so I can graduate now!"

Stricken with confusion, Iruka took a small step back. "What do you mean you can graduate now?"

"Mizuki-sensei told me about the secret graduation exam! And I did it!"

"Secret graduation exam? Naruto there isn't a secret graduation exam," Iruka said still riddled with confusion. "Wait, did you say Mizuki told you that?"

"Yeah, he said if I got a hold of this scroll and learned one jutsu out of it you'd let me graduate," Naruto said with feigned confusion.

Suddenly realizing the situation, Iruka frowned. "Listen Naruto I need-" He was cut off by a voice above the two of them.

"So the brat actually pulled it off! I'm surprised. And look, little Iruka is here too," Mizuki said with a devious smirk.

"Mizuki! What have you done!? Why did you tell Naruto those things!?" Iruka yelled heatedly.

"Oh it's quite simple really. I told him to steal the scroll so I can take it from his cold lifeless corpse while I'll sell it to the highest bidder! Or maybe even give it to Lord Orochimaru in exchange for power! The possibilities are endless with that scroll in my possession!" Mizuki said, cackling madly afterward.

"Mizuki I can't believe you're betraying the village! What did the village ever do to warrant this!?" Iruka yelled, a bit taken aback by the proclamation.

"Oh it didn't do anything. I just want more power because power is all that matters in this world. Plus that demon brat right there had it coming. I thought I'd do everyone a favor and kill him for what he did! Die brat!" Mizuki screamed, throwing a fuma shuriken at a still sitting Naruto. Throwing himself in front of Naruto, Iruka tried to block the vicious attack with his body, only to be surprised that Naruto was no longer there, nor did he feel any pain. Swiftly turning around, Iruka saw something he almost couldn't comprehend. Naruto caught the deadly weapon by one of the four tips. Mid-flight!

"That's enough Mizuki- _sensei_ ," Naruto said, emphasizing 'sensei' distastefully. Looking back at a stunned Iruka, Naruto gave him a smile. "Thanks Sensei. I'm really happy you would sacrifice yourself to save me. Now, let me save you."

Scoffing at the display, Mizuki glared at the two below him. "Whatever. Everyone gets lucky. My next shot won't miss demon-brat! Actually, before I do, do you want to know why everyone in this village hates you?" Mizuki said with a wicked gleam in his eye.

"Don't Mizuki! It's forbidden!" Iruka screamed.

"It's fine Sensei," Naruto said quietly. Iruka just snapped his head to Naruto in surprise. "No Mizuki, I don't need you to tell me because I already know what I am! I am the Jinjuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune! The one who supposedly caused the destruction of the village the same day I was born! And I couldn't be prouder or more grateful to have such an honor!" Naruto yelled at a shocked Mizuki. Quickly recovering from his shock, Mizuki shot Naruto a look of disgust.

"If you're so proud of causing the deaths of so many people, then die!" Mizuki screamed, throwing his last remaining fuma shuriken as hard as he could the 'demon incarnate'.

Just standing there calmly, Naruto stopped Iruka from getting in the way again, and let the projectile travel its course. However, what Naruto wasn't expecting was for someone else to get in the way at the last second.

All Naruto heard was a voice screaming his name and the sight of indigo hair, before he realized what happened. Looking down at the person now laying on the ground in front of him, Naruto saw lavender eyes on a face that had a weak smile, blood coming out the corner. The person had taken the weapon directly in the stomach, buried three-fourths of the way up. Paling in realization, all the Shinobi in the village that were looking for Naruto heard his cry, "HINATA!"

"N-Naruto…"

Kneeling down, Naruto slowly removed the shuriken from her abdomen, and took the girl in his arms.

"Hinata what were you thinking?" Naruto softly said, tears forming in his eyes.

"I-I j-just wanted to s-save you, Naruto-k-kun. Y-you weren't m-moving," the paling girl uttered out.

While this happened, Mizuki first had a frown on his face from not hitting his intended target, but that grew to a wicked grin. "HA! The bitch deserves to die if she tries to save the very demon who destroyed the village!"

Ignoring the man's outburst, Naruto made ten sealess Shadow Clones, each having the orders given upon creation. The sudden bursts of smoke startled Iruka, who had just been standing there beside Naruto not really knowing what to do. 'Since when could Naruto make clones..wait, those aren't just clones, they're solid!' Iruka thought.

"I'm sorry Hinata, but this is going to hurt," Naruto said with a grimace. Putting his hand on the would, he began heating up his hand with Kurama's chakra. "AHHHHHHH!" the girl screamed out in pain as Naruto cauterized the wound, soon after passing out.

"I'm sorry Hinata, you silly, silly girl," Naruto said fondly.

"Iruka! Take her to get medical attention! I'll deal with traitor-san over here." Iruka found himself doing what Naruto told him oddly. The blonde had said it with such authority that Iruka couldn't refuse him. Naruto picked the girl up and handed her to Iruka.

"I've just stopped the external bleeding. She's still bleeding internally. I just bought her time. Now hurry, GO!" Iruka just nodded and sped off with an unconscious Hinata in his arms.

"Oh no you don't!" Mizuki yelled, chasing after the retreating form of Iruka, only to be blocked by two Naruto clones.

"HA! You can't fool me with your stupid clones!" But to his surprise, the two 'clones' went on the attack, one of them drilling its fist in Mizuki's stomach, the same place Hinata was hit with the fuma shuriken, and the other nailing the bowed head of Mizuki with an axe kick, sending the traitor rocketing into the ground below, causing a small crater.

With stars in his eyes, Mizuki shakily tried to push himself up, only to be stopped by a heavy foot on his back.

"Sol- *cough* solid clones?" choked a very disoriented Mizuki. "No- *cough* not possible."

"It is very possible traitorous scum. I hope you like iron and stone because that's all you'll be seeing for a very long time, that is to say, if the Hokage doesn't execute you," Naruto said calmly. Moving his foot off the prone Mizuki, the man then rolled onto his back, staring up at the blonde with a mixture of shock and confusion.

"How, did you do that?"

"Don't worry about it. Now get up and start walking. And if you even try to escape or pull anything, you won't be serving your time in one piece," Naruto threatened with a cold stare. Nodding dumbly, Mizuki felt compelled to comply with the boy's demands. Stumbling at first, Mizuki started walking.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"A chunin like you shouldn't have to hard a time figuring that out," was the cold response Mizuki received.

Carrying the Scroll of Seals on his back with the help of a strap he added, Naruto started walking behind his unbound prisoner.

Slowly regaining his senses, Mizuki was thinking frantically. 'Wait why am I listening to this brat? So what he got a lucky shot or two. If I surprise him with a kunai to the chest, I doubt he'll be able to react. After all, I'm a chunin and he's just an academy student nobody. Why the fuck am I so frightened by him? Come on Mizuki, he's just a kid. Wait till we walk by a tree, and then dash around and take him down. Simple as that.'

Upon passing a tree after walking towards the main gate, Mizuki enacted his plan and flew around the tree, kunai in hand, only to find Naruto no longer there. Attempting to pull his kunai up in a battle stance, he soon realized he couldn't. At first surprised, he began to feel a pain like no other erupt from his shoulder. Looking over to where his right arm should be, he found a profusely bleeding stub.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he dropped to his knees in pain, clutching where his arm use to be.

"I did warn you." Looking up in shock, Mizuki saw Naruto spinning a kunai on his finger in one hand and holding his severed arm in the other.

Sighing, Naruto threw the arm behind him and walked over to the still stunned Mizuki. Forcibly moving Mizuki's left hand, Naruto put his free hand on the wound and cauterized it just like he did with Hinata, only a little less gentle. Mizuki once again screamed out in pain, the sweet embrace of unconsciousness eluding him.

Standing him up, Naruto began to lead Mizuki by the arm that was still attached, into the village.

As soon as Naruto entered the main gate, he was surrounded by seven Jonin that happened to be nearby. Naruto sighed for what seemed like the one thousandth time that day.

"I suppose there's no talking my way out of this," Naruto said with a little hope. Upon looking at the glares he was getting, he just nodded.

"Take me to the Hokage, he'll explain everything." The Jonin glanced each other, unsure whether to listen to the boy or not. After a moments consideration, they all nodded to each other.

"Fine. But you will release the Shinobi in your possession to us," one Jonin commanded.

"I don't think so. He's a traitor to Konoha and I'm bringing him to the Hokage myself. I don't mind the escort though," Naruto said with a smile. He began walking with his prisoner in tow once more, the Jonin cautiously following him.

The Hokage was already standing outside the tower waiting for someone to report to him, when Naruto and company showed up, a grin on Naruto's face.

"I trust this is the traitor that you spoke of?" Hiruzen asked the blonde.

"Yup. Also, he tried to attack me after I'd taken him prisoner after warning him against it, so that's why he's in the current state you see." Simply nodding, the Hokage reached out his hand. As if knowing, Naruto placed the Scroll of Sealing in the old man's outstretched hand.

"Good work Naruto. Meet me in my office once things calm down." Nodding at his words, Naruto released his grip on the trembling Mizuki.

"You six, inform everyone to stand down and to cease pursuit of Naruto. You, take Mizuki here to T&I to see Ibiki." Saluting at the Hokage's orders, the Jonin complied and did as they were told, trusting their leader knew what he was doing.

"Did you have to take his arm?" Hiruzen asked the blonde next to him once the Shinobi were out of earshot.

"I did warn him not to try anything or I would. Plus he would just cause trouble further down the line, so I thought that would make him less worrisome," Naruto replied.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Naruto yelled, dashing off towards the hospital. "Ask Iruka for the details!" Naruto called out over his shoulder as he sped off. Hiruzen nodded at this, turned around, and headed up to his office to await the many Jonin he would undoubtedly have to explain everything to.

XXX

Naruto slammed the door to the hospital room open, looking for the girl that had tried to save his life. His actions however, startled the medic nin that was working on her. Hinata was lying on a bed with her abdomen completely exposed, still unconscious.

"Is she going to be alright?" Naruto asked slightly panicked.

"Y-yes. I'm just about finished healing her injuries. Luckily her wound was cauterized when she came in. Otherwise, she would have probably bled to death."

Giving a sigh of relief, Naruto walked over to Hinata's side. "That's good. I was worried she may have had permanent damage. I'm glad I was able to seal her would up. Thanks for looking after her." The female medic nin nodded at the boy's sentiment hesitantly. "Hey where's Iruka sensei? He should of been the one to bring her here."

"Oh, he went to the Hyuuga compound to inform Hiashi-sama," the woman replied. "Oh. Well I just came by to make sure she was alright. The Hokage wants to see me so I'll leave you to it." And with that, Naruto left just as quick as he got there, leaving a slightly confused medic nin behind.

'Wasn't that, the Uzumaki kid?' the woman thought to herself before quickly returning to finish up healing Hinata's injuries.

* * *

A few hours later.. (Hokage's office)

The Hokage had just gotten the full report of what transpired in the forest from Naruto and Iruka, and needless to say, he was a little surprised at how Naruto handled the situation. Minus the part of the unexpected injury Hinata received, Naruto performed at the same level of an ANBU.

"I see. Well with that squared away, I wish to speak to you two about Naruto's graduation. It is to my understanding that Naruto didn't pass, correct?"

"Yes Hokage-sama, however I wish to reconsider him as a possible exception. As you heard, he made solid clones in the forest, which is no small feat for someone his age, sealess at that. That in mind, I wish to let him graduate and become a genin," Iruka informed.

"My thoughts exactly. I'll leave it to you then. You're both dismissed. Have a good night."

"Thanks Jiji."

"Yes Hokage-sama"

When the two left the tower, Iruka looked over at Naruto. "Hey what do you say we get some late night ramen? Ichiraku should still be open for about another hour," Iruka suggested.

"Uh yes! What kind of question is that? Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed, bringing a smile to Iruka.

The two walked in comfortable silence until they got to Ichiraku.

"Hey boys! What'll you be havin'?" Teuchi asked with a smile.

"We'll both have the miso," Iruka said, returning the old man's smile.

"Comin' right up!"

As they waited for their food to be prepared, Iruka looked over at a very excited Naruto. "Hey Naruto, I just wanted to say thank you for blocking that fuma shuriken back there. I'm really proud with how far you've come," said a beaming Iruka.

Looking down at his lap, Naruto couldn't help but think back to what happened the first time. What Iruka had said. How it changed his life. How it gave him hope. "Thanks Iruka-sensei. That means a lot," Naruto said smiling sadly.

"Hey Naruto close your eyes for a minute." Knowing what was coming, Naruto did what he was told and faced Iruka. The blonde then felt the soft sensation of cloth against his forehead as Iruka tied his very own hitai ate around Naruto's head.

"Alright you can open them." Opening his eyes, Naruto saw a smiling Iruka who was now missing his hitai ate. "Congratulations Naruto. You graduate."

Naruto brightly grinned at Iruka. "Thanks Sensei."

"It's my pleasure. You'll make a fine shinobi as well as Hokage some day. Now then, you're not going to let your ramen get cold are you?" Naruto had failed to realize that Teuchi had placed the bowl in front of him.

"Don't count on it! Let's dig in!" Naruto said as he dove into in favorite food, garnering a chuckle from Iruka.

'Naruto, you're going to do great things,' Iruka thought to himself before he started eating as well.

* * *

 **There ya go! As you can see, whatever Naruto does can have consequences, like Hinata becoming injured instead of Iruka. Hope you enjoyed it! Till next time!**

 **p.s. I was so tempted to leave a cliffy at "HINATA!", but I figured that would make the chapter too short. xD**


	12. Dark Omens

**Hey I updated finally! Sorry for the long wait guys. I've been going through quite a few personal issues (I know, everyone's excuse on here). Thankfully I'm gettin 'em worked out. I know you guys have been wanting more so here it is. I present chapter 12!**

 **Disclaimer: LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M STARING AT YOU. I DON'T OWN NARUTO. SO STRIP THE FLESH, SALT THE WOUND! HA! HAHAHAHA! AND BRING ME A BUCKET, AND I'LL SHOW YOU A BUCKET!**

* * *

The next morning, Naruto walked down one of the halls in the hospital, towards Hinata's room. Upon approaching the room, he saw a Hyuuga guard barring the way from any would-be intruders. When the guard saw Naruto walking up, a frown grew on his face. When Naruto was finally standing in front of the man, the two stared at each other, one with an annoyed frown, and the other with a carefree expression. Naruto had his hands behind his head looking up at the man before him. After a few awkward moments, Naruto peered around the white-eyed guard and pointed towards the room.

"Hey uh, can I get in there?" Naruto asked once again looking up at the guard, still pointing at the entrance.

Getting a scoff for a reply, the man responded, "Begone little beast. Hinata-sama needs her rest and doesn't need to be bothered by the likes of you." The blonde frowned at the man.

"I'm the one who gave her first aid so she didn't die in the first place. I'd like to think that gives me special visiting privileges," Naruto said with a slight glare, keeping the same pose.

"You would think wrongly. Like I'm going to believe a brat like you could save anyone. Please leave Hinata-sama to rest before I have to remove you by force," the man said coldly.

Dropping his hand, Naruto let out a sigh. "Fine, fine. I'll come back later," the blonde said as he walked away, waving his hand in the air. He put his hands in his pockets and left the building.

'I guess I'm going to have to get creative,' Naruto thought to himself when he got outside. The blonde turned around and looked up at the rather large structure. His head panned over to the left side of the building.

"Her room should be right about there," he mused to himself. With a jump, the boy leaped into the air and onto the hospital roof, leaving some civilians who were nearby slightly surprised by the boy's sudden 'disappearance'. Naruto went over to the edge of the building and dropped down to the window ledge of Hinata's room. Peering inside the white room, Naruto started to become slightly frustrated. There just happened to be another Hyuuga guard just inside that would, no doubt, "escort him out" as soon as he stepped foot inside.

"I've got to get in there," Naruto whispered to himself, "Guess I'll just have to get a little more creative." Naruto furrowed his brow to try and come up with a plan. Of course he could always force his way in, but that would take out the fun as well as cause unnecessary problems.

After pondering for a bit, making sure he stayed out of sight as he perched on the ledge, he heard the door inside slide open. He looked over and saw the other guard poke his head in. Pressing his ear against the glass to hear while keeping relatively out of sight, Naruto listened in.

"Hey your shift is about over. Since you got the night shift, your relief should be here in about ten minutes," the outside guard said. The room guard nodded his head. "Thank you for informing me. I can use some sleep right about now," the guard replied, slightly rolling his shoulders of their stiffness.

Getting a wicked smirk, Naruto jumped off the ledge towards the street to search for his newfound prey.

XXX

A Hyuuga man was walking down the hallway of the hospital towards his assigned post. He was to relieve the guard who had been looking after Hinata a little after she was brought in the night before. He approached the other Hyuuga guard on the outside and gave him a nod. The guard nodded in return and opened the sliding door.

The man walked in the room and spotted the man he was supposed to relieve.

"Good work. I'll take over from here. You are relieved," the Hyuuga man said in a gentle voice.

"Thank you. I'll see you back at the compound Teshi," the guard replied, giving a curt nod upon exiting the room. Once he closed the door behind him, the Hyuuga man looked at Hinata and gave a devious smirk.

"Well that was pretty easy," the 'Hyuuga man' said. Silently exploding in smoke, the man transformed into a certain blonde with the same devious smirk.

"I hope I didn't hurt, I guess Teshi, too bad," the boy said, scratching the side of his head with his index finger. Moving on to more important thoughts, Naruto walked over to the side of the Hyuuga heiress' bed. The sleeping, indigo haired girl had a serene look on her face that brought a warm smile to the blonde peering down at her. Naruto placed his left hand on Hinata's right hand and held it. Due to the sudden warmth, Hinata's hand instinctually wrapped itself around Naruto's.

"I'm so glad you're okay Hinata," Naruto whispered. This got the Hyuuga heiress to stir a bit as she began to wake up. Wriggling around a bit, the girl used her left hand to rub her eyes, never removing her right hand from the blonde's grasp. Slowly opening her eyes, the girl blinked cutely a few times before she looked over to find the source of warmth in her other hand. Slightly confused, she saw it was another hand, something she wasn't really used to, but not really minding it the same.

When she looked up to see who the hand belonged to, she just blinked once at the grinning face of her savior from the night before. She blinked again, and then rubbed her eyes again with her free hand, and then looked back up at the still grinning face of her favorite blonde. Looking back down at her hand, she suddenly realized the situation and ripped her hand away with an "Eep!", using both hands to place the bed covers over her head in embarrassment. Naruto just chuckled at the girl's antics.

"Good morning, Hinata-chan. How are you feeling?" Naruto asked just above a whisper as to not alert the guard outside. He was hoping that the man didn't hear Hinata's small outburst, and with each passing second, it seemed to be a less likely possibility.

Slowly bringing down the sheet, Hinata looked wide-eyed at the boy next to her.

"N-Naruto, w-w-what are you doing here?" the girl asked in slight shock and a bit of confusion.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here', I'm here to see you silly! I had to come and make sure you were alright," Naruto quietly said with a smile, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

'He came, to see me? He cares about me, that much? I'm so happy!' the girl shouted in her mind. Looking back at the blonde, the girl slowly removed to blanket hiding the lower half of her face. Looking down at her lap, the girl started to cutely poke her fingers together.

"Y-you didn't have to do that, you know. B-but, thank you," Hinata said, the last part barely audible. Naruto caught it though.

"I know I didn't have to, but I really wanted to. I had to impersonate one of your guards just to get in here. I don't care what I had to deal with, nothing was going to stop me from getting in here. No one can stop the almighty Naruto!" Naruto mocked yelled (quietly mind you), pointing his finger in the air above his head. Hinata giggled at the boy's odd gesture.

As if to challenge the sudden proclamation, the room door slammed open. Looking over to the sudden noise, Naruto saw the tall figure of none other than Hiashi Hyuuga, the Hyuuga clan head, with a rather angry expression on his face. After seeing the man's face, Naruto gave a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head.

"Heh heh heh, lovely weather we're having, right Hiashi-sama?" Receiving a cold glare in response, Naruto took a few steps back away from Hinata's bed.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't have you thrown out for disturbing my daughter's rest," Hiashi coldly stated rather than ask. Growing a serious expression, Naruto stared unwaveringly into the clan head's eyes.

"Me being the one who saved her life in the first place, I'll tell you what I told the guard outside, I think it gives me some special visiting privileges. Not only that, but she got hurt trying to save me from the traitor Mizuki, so I feel I am responsible for her injury. I also wanted to make sure she was doing alright, because I care about her very much. Is that a good enough reason?" Naruto replied with a dangerous looking glare. Hinata was starting to sweat underneath the amount of tension in the room that had been exponentially building.

Hiashi kept his stern expression for a few moments before he closed his eyes and nodded, softening his expression. "Very well. I will accept your reason. Hokage-sama has already informed me of what transpired in the forest, so I am grateful to you for saving my daughter." Slightly sweat dropping, Naruto pointed his finger at the clan head.

"If you knew, what was with the scare tactics?" Naruto asked, slightly annoyed.

"I wanted to test you Naruto-san. It has come to my knowledge that you and my daughter have become rather good friends, and I needed to make sure you wouldn't be a bad influence," Hiashi responded, making Naruto's sweat drop grow just a little more. Hiashi was actually very impressed with the blonde. Not only could the boy stare into his eyes without fear, Naruto did so under his coldest and harshest of gazes. Lesser men would have cowered before it, like many have done. Not only that, but this boy had single handedly taken down a chunin level shinobi, and saved his daughter to boot. Despite the blonde's jinjuriki status, as well as the other infamous rumors, Naruto was pretty okay in his books.

Recovering from his sweat drop, Naruto's face once again grew serious. "Hiashi-sama, I have a request." Hiashi had walked over to the other side of Hinata's bed at this point. He raised his hand in response.

"And you can make it, but you will do so in a moment." Hiashi looked over towards Hinata who had been stunned beyond words from the interaction between the two. Hiashi activated his Byuakugan, the characteristic veins appearing around his eyes. He examined where Hinata had been injured, checking for any complications or anything that the doctors may have missed. The only thing he could see was a scar where Naruto had seared her flesh to stop the bleeding, but nothing else to be worried about. Deactivating his Byuakugan, Hiashi gave a small sigh of relief.

"How are you feeling Hinata?" the man asked with concern.

"I-I'm fine father, thanks to N-Naruto-kun," the girl responded meekly, poking her fingers together.

"Good. I'm going to have you discharged momentarily to finish recovering at the compound. I'm glad you're okay Hinata," Hiashi said warmly, while maintaining a cold expression as usual.

"Thank you father," Hinata said quietly. She was rather surprised at the concern her father was expressing for her. Lately, he had seemed distant and displeased at her progress in her training. So his warm words were certainly unexpected, more so than Naruto's sudden visit.

Looking back at Naruto, Hiashi inclined his head. "You had a request of me?"

"Yes. I wanted to get your permission on something concerning Hinata," Naruto said with a deadly serious expression. This little request however, slammed into Hinata's mind like a freight train.

'He couldn't possibly mean that could he?! It's too soon! There's no way I can do that right now! I'm too young!' Hinata thought frantically, absently gaping at the oblivious blonde before her.

Hiashi just raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

"I would like to take over her training." This brought the room to complete silence. If Hiashi didn't have a reputation to uphold, he would have burst out laughing right then and there.

"That is, if she is okay with it," Naruto said glancing over at the girl in question. Naruto had to make an active effort not to snicker at Hinata's bewildered expression.

The silence grew a few moments more before the clan head responded. "What could you, a freshly graduated academy student, possibly have to offer Hinata over the expertise of the Hyuuga training regiment?" Hiashi asked a bit baffled by the blonde's request.

"More than you know. Let's just say I know more than the average shinobi," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Don't be ridiculous. You are a freshly graduated genin. Even if you did defeat Mizuki, there's no possible way I can allow that."

"Okay let me rephrase, will you let me contribute to her training?"

"Absolutely not, it is out of the question," Hiashi stated a bit more irked than before. Staring up at the man for a few moments, Naruto looked over at Hinata, who was at a loss for words.

"Hinata-chan, would you mind if I helped train you?" After a moment's hesitation, she quickly shook her head no.

"Alright then, Hiashi-sama I have a proposal for you. If I can beat you in one on one combat, then I get to help train Hinata-chan." It was Hiashi's turn to be at a loss for words. A genin defeating a clan head? Absolutely ludicrous! After thinking on it for a minute or two, Hiashi hardened his gaze.

"I'm not going to waste my time flicking a pest. As much as I appreciate what you did for my daughter, I'm going to have to decline your request. Goodbye Naruto-san." Hiashi turned around to walk out the door, only to be blocked by the same blonde he just turned his back to. Slightly taken aback, Hiashi quickly looked back to where Naruto had been once before, only to find no trace of the boy. The Hyuuga looked back at the blonde, only to see him putting up a seal on the door. Watching curiously, the clan head saw the blonde activate a seal that he did not recognize. Trails of fuin script spread across the room, before pulsing white and disappearing.

"If you think of me as just a mere pest, I guess I'll just have to prove you wrong," Naruto said with a confident smirk. "What I'm about to show you is a SS class village secret, so I trust you won't tell anybody about it. The seal I just put up is to make sure no one outside this room can feel what I'm about to do. Hinata, don't activate your Byakugan." Receiving a nod, Naruto looked back at a rather flustered Hiashi. The clan head didn't know what to expect. If what the boy said was true, then he was in for something incredible. Like a flick of a switch, Naruto's body erupted in golden chakra, causing Hiashi to falter, stumbling back. Wide-eyed, Hiashi fell back on his rear, him not having the luxury of a chair that the Hokage did when he first saw this. Recognizing this feeling from the other day, Hiashi's eyes grew even wider. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, or feeling. The amount of power radiating out from this mere boy was simply overwhelming. Hinata was balking at the blazoned Naruto in front of her, simply uttering "Beautiful," garnering a smile from the blonde. After a minute passed, Naruto deactivated his cloak just as fast as it appeared.

"So now you know that I'm not any pushover. I won't be using that in our spar however. That would just be unfair," Naruto said smirking at the still dazed Hiashi. Trying to recover from the experience, Hiashi picked himself off the ground, dusting his robes off, still not quite over the shock.

"I, I'm not sure what to say.." Hiashi trailed off. That had been one of the most powerful and peaceful chakras he had ever felt before. He wasn't sure how to respond.

"Well for starters, you could let me train your daughter." After a moments hesitation, Hiashi nodded dumbly at this, not quite registering what the blonde just said. After taking a minute to process what he just said yes to, Hiashi shook his head to clear the remaining shock.

"Wait, you said something about defeating me in a spare?"

"Yes, that was my request."

"Very well. I accept your request. When would you like to do this?"

"Well, I would prefer today if possible. It also has to be in a secluded area, free from prying eyes. I suppose it could be done in one of the buildings in your compound, but I would have to put up seals to ensure no one could barge in and see what I'm capable of," Naruto said with a finger to his chin.

"That will work. While you are there, I would like it if you could tell me about the fuinjutsu you seem to practice. Someone so well versed in the art as young as you are is quite a rarity. I'd think it be interesting to see how much you know. You can stop by the compound anytime past 3. I have business to attend to and I think I should be free by then. Anyway, I'm going to go get Hinata released. Goodbye, Naruto-san," Hiashi said with a nod as he walked over to the door. Upon exiting, Naruto looked over at a still gaping Hinata. Naruto grew a sheepish expression.

"Heh heh, sorry about that. I really want to train you so you can be strong enough to take on the strongest of opponents. I never want a repeat of what happened last night. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it Hinata, and I can't always be there to protect you," Naruto said a bit bashfully. Hinata, on the other hand, was on the verge of fainting. The words she only dreamed Naruto saying to her were coming out of his mouth right then and Hinata wasn't too sure how to handle it.

When she was about to faint, Hinata steeled herself and resisted. 'Stay strong. Stay strong for his sake. No more fainting!' the girl thought to herself. So for a response, she settled with a small nod, her face remaining blazing red.

"Good! Now that that's taken care of, I'll let you get home and rest. I'll see you later today Hinata-chan!" Naruto said with a grin. The blonde walked over to the door and removed the seal and then left the room in a shunshin, leaving behind a still very flustered Hinata.

XXX

Naruto walked up to the Hyuuga compound gates with two annoyed looking guards staring at him. Naruto had his hands behind his head with a fox-like expression on his face. Once the blonde was standing in front of the guards, the one on the right began speaking.

"What do you want pest. Begone before we remove you forcefully," the man spat out.

Simply looking over to the man who had said this, Naruto just stared at him for a moment. "I have an appointment with Hiashi-sama. I would think he wouldn't like it if you kept him waiting," Naruto said a bit carefree, irking the guards all the more.

"Hiashi-sama is a busy man. He wouldn't have time for little brats like you. Now this is your last chance, leave now." This brought Naruto to sigh. Naruto put his arms down and began walking past the gates. Surprised by the boy's actions, the guards went to stop the blonde by seizing him by the shoulders. However when they went to do this, their hands just seemed to pass right through him, almost as if he was moving so fast that they couldn't touch him.

Becoming angered, the two guards nodded to each other and entered the Hyuuga battle stance, lighting their fingers up with a small amount of blue chakra. Preparing to strike the boy down with Juken, they were immediately halted by a stern voice.

"Enough!" Turning their heads slightly to the direction of the voice, they saw none other than the clan head himself, his cold expression that never seemed to change on his face.

"Naruto-san here is my guest. I'd have you apologize and return to your posts," Hiashi said sternly. Standing at attention, both men bowed to the clan head, both uttering "Yes, Hiashi-sama. We apologize Naruto-san."

"Eh. No biggie," Naruto said with a wave of his hand. Hiashi looked at the blonde now standing next to him.

"My apologies Naruto-san. I thought something like this might happen, despite me telling them of your arrival beforehand. Please excuse their rudeness."

"Like I said, no biggie. I'm used to it by now. Plus, as you know, they couldn't stop me anyway," Naruto said, keeping his voice down on the last part so only Hiashi heard it. Giving a slight nod, Hiashi responded, "Very well then. If you would, follow me to my residence." The man turned and began walking towards his house, Naruto in tow.

"You know Hiashi-sama, you don't have to be all formal with me. I get you have to to keep up appearances, but when it's just me and you around or even with Hinata, you can just call me Naruto. I was never really big into the whole suffix or overly respectful thing."

Hiashi side glanced at the boy now walking next to him. He gave a small nod. "Noted."

Naruto followed Hiashi into the head clan building, Hiashi's home. They both walked into the clan head private training room, where Hiashi trains Hinata.

"This should do. Could you put up the seals?" Hiashi said to the blonde who was currently enjoying the scenery. He had never been in this room before.

"Yeah sure thing." Naruto walked back over to the door they entered through. He got his seals out and right when he was about to put the first one up, the door began to open. A little surprised, Naruto slid the door open, revealing a very surprised Hinata.

"Ah! Oh, uh, N-naruto-kun, I was just-"

"Hinata it's fine," Naruto said with a smile. "Did you want to watch?"

Growing a light hue of red on her cheeks, Hinata shyly nodded. Naruto just smiled at her.

"You don't have to sneak a peek. I'm sure you father's okay with it. I'm just about to put up some seals so go on in."

Hinata nodded once again and hurried past the blonde. Naruto slid the door shut and began putting up the barrier and silencing seals as well as activating them. After a few minutes, he was satisfied with his work and walked over to a very curious Hiashi who had been watching the blonde intently.

"Okay that should do. The seals I put up prevent anyone from entering, as well as preventing any sounds from escaping. I also put up one of my new ones that prevent area damage, so we can go wild in this room without causing any damage, granted the barrier holds."

"Very well. Shall we begin?" Hiashi asked as he entered his battle stance. He was going to take this fight seriously. He knew nothing good could come from underestimating Naruto in the slightest.

"You know it," Naruto responded with a smirk, settling into his own stance. He then looked over at Hinata who had taken residence in the far corner, trying to be as small as possible.

"Hey Hinata, since you're here, could tell us when to begin?" Naruto asked to shy girl.

Realizing she was being spoken to, she registered the question and nodded quickly.

"Uh, begin!" she squeaked cutely.

As soon as the word left her mouth Naruto leaped into action, testing his taijutsu against a master of the ninja art.

Naruto unleashed a staggering amount of punches and kicks, giving him the likeness of a tornado. Hiashi however, was prepared. Every blow Naruto sent his way, the Clan Head deflected them with ease.

Watching the boy intently, Hiashi analyzed the blondes taijutsu strategy. It lacked considerable defense, but the offensive capabilities more than made up for it. Needless to say, Hiashi was impressed.

After a few more rounds of barrages, Naruto jumped back, standing there without even a pant. Hiashi took note of that.

'The boy's endurance is unreal. Most ninja, just about all his age, would be on the ground in complete exhaustion. I don't even think he was going all out either.'

Hiashi's gaze hardened as he stared at the boy in front of him, lowering back down into his starting fighting stance.

"I guess they call you clan head for a reason," Naruto said with a smile. "Guess I'll have to ramp things up a bit," Naruto said, his smile turning into a devious smirk.

"You'll have to do more than block and deflect." With that, Naruto sprang into action, bomb rushing the man with a speed he just wasn't expecting.

Years of experience allowed him to counter just in time as the blonde attempted to punch him with a left hook. Not a second later, Naruto's heel was inches from Hiashi's face. Hiashi ducked just in time to narrowly avoid the blow with a spin crouch. He then extended his hand for a Juken strike at the boy's core.

Naruto saw this and deflected the strike with his own version of Juken. The two both jumped back to eye each other down.

Hiashi was shocked. How did a mere boy learn Juken? No, it was more than that. It almost seemed like, a counter!

"How did you learn that, boy," Hiashi said with a bit more distaste than he meant to.

Naruto just smirked at the man's statement question. He noticed the man tended to do that a lot. Ask a question in a statement form.

"You really think I wouldn't try to learn counters to all the foes I may face?" the blonde said smirking, "You'll have to come at me with everything you got to even touch me."

Now Hiashi was typically a level-headed man, keeping his cool in almost any situation. However, Naruto's provocation set something off in him. Activating his Byuakugan, Hiashi changed his stance to the eight-trigrams stance, lowering his torso and extending his arms opposite each other, left pointing at the ground in front of him, and the other straight the other way.

"It's about time we got serious," Naruto said as he cracked his neck, then settling into his stance, one Hiashi did not recognize. It mattered little to the man at the moment though.

Upon seeing her father's stance, Hinata could no longer keep quiet.

"Father-sama! What are you doing?! You could kill him!" the girl screamed out, with more volume than Hiashi had ever heard from the girl.

"Don't worry Hinata. I can handle it," Naruto said, never taking his eyes off his opponent.

Still immensely worried, Hinata settled for Naruto's confidence and put her trust in his words.

A few moments later, Hiashi sprang into action, unleashing his eight-trigrams, 216 palms.

As each ever growing sequential bursts of Juken strikes went to hit their mark, Naruto countered and deflected each and every one, throwing a block or two in here and there. This just proved to infuriate Hiashi even further, his strikes coming at Naruto full blast.

"128 palms!"

"256 palms!" Hiashi roared.

When Hiashi unleashed his final strike, he infused almost all the chakra he had left, sending a blow of seemingly immeasurable power right at Naruto's chest. This got Naruto to widen his eyes a little.

The blow slammed into the blonde's chest as it slipped through his defenses. The strike sent Naruto flying, his body violently crashing against the wall.

"NARUTO!" Hinata screamed.

Hiashi to was about to panic for what he had just done, only to abruptly turn around to block a series of strikes from, three Naruto's? Using his Dojutsu, Hiashi saw the body he struck silently puff out of existence in a cloud of smoke. Immediately realizing the situation, Hiashi quickly and aggressively sent three Juken strikes into the hearts of the three clones, each puffing into smoke.

"Shadow clones," Hiashi said to himself like he should have known.

Seeing an extremely fast incoming force coming to strike his rear, Hiashi turned as fast as he could to block, knowing he had no chance of dodging. Hiashi blocked the right side kick just in time for the shadow of the clone come alive, the real Naruto revealing himself. With a speed simply faster than his own, Hiashi watched as Naruto crashed his fist into Hiashi's sternum with bone shattering force. It was Hiashi turned to go flying as he to crashed into the wall, only he didn't have the luxury of shadow clones.

As he hit the wall with force that would have killed most men, blood sprang out of Hiashi's mouth.

The man dropped to the ground in pain, clutching his chest.

Hinata stood in the corner in speechless shock as she witnessed the strongest man she knew get beaten by a freshly graduated genin.

Realizing what he had down, Naruto appeared next to the buckling man.

"Oh Hiashi I'm sorry! I didn't mean to put that much force into it!" Naruto yelled, his voice full of worry.

Coughing up a bit more blood, Hiashi looked up at the victor of the 'spar'.

"Don't *cough* worry about it. I had it coming for what I tried to do to you *cough*," the man said weakly. Not only did the impact of that blow cause significant damage, Hiashi was pretty low on chakra as well from the match.

"Hold on I might be able to do something! Lay on your back," Naruto somewhat commanded. Hiashi did as the boy said, albeit being an excruciating process. Hiashi however, did showed no sign of pain besides the wince he had on his face.

Naruto pulled out his sealing supplies that he always kept on his person.

"I'm going to try to write a reconstruction seal for your chest, although it'll take some time. Think you can last ten minutes?" Hiashi just gave a slight nod.

Seeing this, Naruto went to work. He had written out plenty of reconstruction seals before, just never on a human. He'd figure it out though. Probably. After about five minutes, Hinata now sat at her father's side.

"Naruto we need to get him to the hospital!" the girl slightly yelled out.

"We will after I do this. If I do it right, it'll be much faster than anything they can do," the blonde said, never looking away from his fuin script.

As each minute ticked by, the tension and stress kept building for Naruto and Hinata. Hiashi would occasionally cough out more blood, Hinata making sure he didn't choke on it as she wiped it away with the sleeve of her coat. This wasn't like the wound Naruto saved her from. This one had way more internal damage to much more important organs.

After another seven minutes ticked by, Naruto finally sat up from his work, looking over his script for mistakes.

Nodding to himself, Naruto put the seal on the man's chest. Getting a wince from Hiashi, Naruto quietly apologized.

"Alright, this is going to hurt, like a lot, probably. Well, I'm not sure, but I'd imagine it would. This is my first time doing this on a human so."

Hiashi slightly turned his head to look at the blonde in silent worry.

"Well, here goes nothing." Naruto put his hand on the incredibly complex seal and channeled his chakra into it. Naruto was taken a bit off guard how much chakra it needed, but it made sense given what it's purpose was. Soon, the seal began to glow. Before it really started to work, Naruto suddenly thought of another seal he had on him and quickly pulled it out and applied it.

"I just realized I had a pain nullification seal. Should help."

Hiashi's face began to relax as the pain left his body. Moments later, the seal on his chest began to glow very brightly as it extended fuin script across the man's body. Now all they could do was hope.

(The Next Day…)

Hiashi was at his office desk doing some paperwork when he heard a knock at the sliding door.

"Enter."

As the door opened, a small girl with indigo hair began to make her way in.

"How are you feeling father?" the girl asked with worry on her face.

"I'm feeling much better. That seal of Naruto's did wonders. I was actually very surprised he pulled it off. The doctor that came by said I was completely fine besides the bruising on my ribcage. Give it a few weeks and I'll be completely recovered," Hiashi said with one of his rare smiles. This brightened Hinata up considerably. Not only did he tell her everything, he even gave her a smile! She could get used to this.

"That's wonderful news," the girl said with a slight sigh. "Anyway, I thought I would come tell you that I'm off to go train with Naruto. I'll be sure to be back before dark."

"Very well. I'll see you for dinner."

"Excuse me father-sama." And with that, the girl left the room with a bit of pep in her step, excited to start her new training.

XXX

(Somewhere in the Land of Water)

In the midst of the civil war that was currently going on, there was something in the shadows watching it all, making sure everything went according to plan. The Mizukage and his bloodline war was raging and succeeding to an extent. Eventually he would need to be taken down, but not before he fulfilled his purpose.

Something started to emerge from a tree in a forest overlooking a battle currently taking place near a fortress a short distance from Kirigakure. It appeared to be a large venus fly trap, it's mouth opening to reveal a head. One half black, the other white, both with dull amber eyes.

"It seems like the rebels are trying to make a push to the hidden village. By the looks of it, they won't be here for very much longer," the white half said in a slightly high pitch, soft tone.

 **"Yes. It will be awhile before the rebels make any headway against Mizukage Yagura's forces,"** the black half said in a low gravely voice.

"This is good."

Before it even realized it, the strange being was soon warped into another dimension by a light touch to it's shoulder.

Caught off guard, the plant-like creature stumbled back and onto the ground in surprise and shock.

"What, what happened?"

 **"I'm not sure. It doesn't seem to be Obito's doing. This dimension is too flat."**

"Turn and listen!" a cold and demonic voice yelled out. Immediately the plant creature spun around to face the source of the voice. It didn't ever expect that it would be a demon looking spirit.

"I am the Shinigami! Be silent, and listen well Zetsu. I know of your plan to revive Kaguya Otsutsuki. I'm here to tell you that it will fail, for I have a champion that will prevent it."

If it was shocked before, Zetsu was floored now. How would his perfect plan come to ruin? Why would the god of death stop it from happening? Why was it even interested in human matters? Didn't it only deal with souls? Zetsu didn't get to ask any of these questions before the god began to speak once more.

"I will not tell you who it is, for that would be unfair. I have brought him back in time to destroy your plan for my entertainment. However it came to my attention that this human would be able to blow through anything you threw at them regularly. So I give you this warning. By now, more than one person knows of your plan and are on the path to stop it. My champion resides in the Land of Fire. Stop him, or your mother will never be able to come back. That is all I will tell you. Do what you will with this information. Before I dismiss you know this, if you fail to stop this human, I will consume your essence and you shall suffer for the rest of eternity. Now begone."

Just as quick as it entered, Zetsu was back in reality, very perturbed.

"Is this true? It can't be. We must have been placed in a genjutsu! That means we have been discovered! We must es-"

 **"SILENCE."** Zetsu needed to think. It had happened all so fast, it was kind of had to believe it actually took place. This would throw a considerable wrench in the plan he had spent centuries concocting.

 **"What just happened was real, and the information we learned true. The Shinigami does not lie, nor does he choose to reveal himself lightly. We must get back to Obito and inform him. We must find this, 'champion', and find a way to end him quickly. We have worked too hard for all this to go to waste. We are leaving. This petty civil war no longer matters."**

"Understood," the white half said defeatedly.

 **"I don't care what we have to do, we will stop this human. We will kill every person in the Land of Fire if need be. And I think I know where to start,"** the black half said menacingly, a dark smile only showing on the black half.

The plant-like creature then absorbed itself back into the tree to concoct its new plan.

* * *

 **I know it's not super long but it's something. I have plans for something great, as hinted here at the end. This fic isn't just gonna be Naruto obliterating everyone and following the main story line OHHHH no. Hopefully you guys like where I go with it. Thanks for reading! I'll try not to take so long to update this time around. Till next time!**

 **side note: Kudos to whoever gets the disclaimer reference xD**


	13. UPDATE

**Okay so, there's been a number of plot holes and deviations from the original story that I'm not happy with. They've also been pointed out to me by a few people, which I very much appreciate. So, in light of this, I have decided to rewrite my story. I'm not going to change it completely, just make certain changes to fix the errors that have been brought to my attention. I should be done with the rewriting process in about a week. Now you may be thinking, "Hey Rassen, isn't it a little early for rewriting? You're under 60,000 words, what could there possibly be to rewrite?" For those who are asking this, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and currently what I have written is unacceptable, at least to me it is. So I will strive for that unattainable perfection that will in the process make my story the best that I can make it.**

 **I will say this, some of the things you've read up until now will be removed and reintroduced in later chapters when the appropriate times come. With the rewritten parts in mind, I believe I'll be able to go much further with the story as far as it remaining interesting. So I ask you all to bare with me on this, and trust that I am making this story better than it would be.**

 **Sorry for those who were excited for a new chapter.**

 **I'll announce when I'm done with the rewriting process when I post chapter 13. I'll also post at the bottom of each chapter the current status of that chapter, whether it's rewritten or not. Until then, happy reading with whatever you may read.**

 **Side Notes: If you'd like a few suggestions on what to read, try "Small Changes" by Digitize (any of his stuff really), "Sealed Legacy" by Psycho G, and "Reaching for a Dream" by Noodlehammer. Those have been my favorites on here.**


	14. Update 2

**Once again, sorry it's not a chapter or the announcement that the rewrite is finished. It's not. It's just me telling you that chapter 6 has been rewritten finally. I changed a lot in the second half of it. I'm going to try to get 1-2 chapters done per week until I'm caught up. So those who were patiently waiting, I'm back (thanks for waiting btw). I have good ideas for this story. Hopefully, I can translate them into writing.**

 **Speaking of, I'd love to have a collaborator. It'd help get past the writer's block and make the story better. Pm me if any of yall are interested.**

 **Anyway, by for now xD**


	15. No chapter here, only disappointment

So, this is not a chapter, which I know is disappointing, but it's about to get worse. I sincerely apologize, as I'm no longer going to be doing anything with this story. So you can consider this story abandoned, another to add to the neverending list. I just don't have the same motivation for writing, and especially Naruto. I'm also just in a different place in life. A better one, but still. I'm content to read fanfiction and Beta for people. I'm sorry for those who liked this story. If anyone wants it or is interested in continuing it, message me, and it's yours. Don't really want the fruits of my labor to go to waste lol.

Anyway, sorry again for those I've disappointed by thinking this was an actual chapter. Happy reading to all of you!

PS: I'll be updating my profile should anything change. It could on a whim or muse. But for now, I'm on a forever snooze (see why I stopped writing? xD).


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